as: Protected
7.73 '.protected NAMES'
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This is one of the ELF visibility directives. The other two are
'.hidden' (Hidden) and '.internal' (Internal).
This directive overrides the named symbols default visibility (which
is set by their binding: local, global or weak). The directive sets the
visibility to 'protected' which means that any references to the symbols
from within the components that defines them must be resolved to the
definition in that component, even if a definition in another component
would normally preempt this.