On Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 1:44 AM Mathieu Poirier <[email protected]> wrote: > I would assume that if e_shnum is 0, then e_shstrndx would also be 0.
They are independent. e_shnum goes to 0 when the section count reaches SHN_LORESERVE. e_shstrndx goes to SHN_XINDEX when the string table's own index reaches SHN_LORESERVE. One keys off the total, the other off one section's index, so a conforming image with many sections and its name string table at a low index has e_shnum 0 and a small e_shstrndx. scripts/recordmcount.h:219 set_shnum() zeroes e_shnum from the count alone and never touches e_shstrndx. Thanks.
