diff --git a/libasm/asm_newsym.c b/libasm/asm_newsym.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5389166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libasm/asm_newsym.c
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+/* Define new symbol for current position in given section.
+   Copyright (C) 2002, 2005, 2016, 2017 Red Hat, Inc.
+   This file is part of elfutils.
+   Written by Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>, 2002.
+
+   This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of either
+
+     * the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free
+       Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at
+       your option) any later version
+
+   or
+
+     * the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
+       Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
+       your option) any later version
+
+   or both in parallel, as here.
+
+   elfutils is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received copies of the GNU General Public License and
+   the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this program.  If
+   not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+# include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <libasmP.h>
+#include <system.h>
+
+
+AsmSym_t *
+asm_newsym (AsmScn_t *asmscn, const char *name, GElf_Xword size,
+	    int type, int binding)
+{
+/* We don't really expect labels with many digits, but in theory it could
+   be 10 digits (plus ".L" and a zero terminator).  */
+#define TEMPSYMLEN 13
+  char tempsym[TEMPSYMLEN];
+  AsmSym_t *result;
+
+  if (asmscn == NULL)
+    /* Something went wrong before.  */
+    return NULL;
+
+  /* Generate a temporary symbol if necessary.  */
+  if (name == NULL)
+    {
+      /* If a local symbol name is created the symbol better have
+	 local binding.  */
+      if (binding != STB_LOCAL)
+	{
+	  __libasm_seterrno (ASM_E_INVALID);
+	  return NULL;
+	}
+
+      // XXX This requires getting the format from the machine backend.  */
+      snprintf (tempsym, TEMPSYMLEN, ".L%07u", asmscn->ctx->tempsym_count++);
+
+      name = tempsym;
+    }
+
+  size_t name_len = strlen (name) + 1;
+
+  result = (AsmSym_t *) malloc (sizeof (AsmSym_t) + name_len);
+  if (result == NULL)
+    return NULL;
+
+  rwlock_wrlock (asmscn->ctx->lock);
+
+  result->scn = asmscn;
+  result->offset = asmscn->offset;
+  result->size = size;
+  result->type = type;
+  result->binding = binding;
+  result->symidx = 0;
+  result->strent = dwelf_strtab_add (asmscn->ctx->symbol_strtab,
+				     memcpy (result + 1, name, name_len));
+
+  if (unlikely (asmscn->ctx->textp))
+    {
+      /* We are only interested in the name and don't need to know whether
+	 it is a local name or not.  */
+      /* First print the binding pseudo-op.  */
+      if (binding == STB_GLOBAL)
+	fprintf (asmscn->ctx->out.file, "\t.globl\t%s\n", name);
+      else if (binding == STB_WEAK)
+	fprintf (asmscn->ctx->out.file, "\t.weak\t%s\n", name);
+
+      /* Next the symbol type.  */
+      if (type == STT_OBJECT)
+	fprintf (asmscn->ctx->out.file, "\t.type\t%s,@object\n", name);
+      else if (type == STT_FUNC)
+	fprintf (asmscn->ctx->out.file, "\t.type\t%s,@function\n", name);
+
+      /* Finally the size and the label.  */
+      fprintf (asmscn->ctx->out.file, "\t.size\t%s,%" PRIuMAX "\n%s:\n",
+	       name, (uintmax_t) size, name);
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      /* Put the symbol in the hash table so that we can later find it.  */
+      if (asm_symbol_tab_insert (&asmscn->ctx->symbol_tab, elf_hash (name),
+				 result) != 0)
+	{
+	  /* The symbol already exists.  */
+	  __libasm_seterrno (ASM_E_DUPLSYM);
+	  /* Note that we can free the entry since there must be no
+	     reference in the string table to the string.  We can only
+	     fail to insert the symbol into the symbol table if there
+	     is already a symbol with this name.  In this case the
+	     dwelf_strtab_add function would use the previously provided
+	     name.  */
+	  free (result);
+	  result = NULL;
+	}
+      else if (name != tempsym && asm_emit_symbol_p (name))
+	/* Only count non-private symbols.  */
+	++asmscn->ctx->nsymbol_tab;
+    }
+
+  rwlock_unlock (asmscn->ctx->lock);
+
+  return result;
+}