*** old/src/share/vm/oops/symbol.hpp	Thu Apr 16 13:30:53 2015
--- new/src/share/vm/oops/symbol.hpp	Thu Apr 16 13:30:53 2015

*** 221,230 ****
--- 221,249 ----
  
    // printing on default output stream
    void print()         { print_on(tty);       }
    void print_value()   { print_value_on(tty); }
  
+   // Allows two distinct Symbol objects to be considered equal as long as
+   // they contain the same string. However, no two Symbol objects stored in the same
+   // SymbolTable would contain the same string. Therefore, if two distinct Symbol
+   // objects contain the same string, they must belong to different SymbolTables.
+   inline bool equals(const Symbol* other) const {
+     if ((this != NULL) && (other != NULL)) {
+       int len = this->utf8_length();
+       if (len != other->utf8_length()) {
+         return false;
+       }
+       return (strncmp((const char*)(this->base()), (const char*)(other->base()), len) == 0);
+     } else {
+       return (this == other);
+     }
+   }
+   inline bool not_equals(const Symbol* other) const {
+     return !(this->equals(other));
+   }
+ 
  #ifndef PRODUCT
    // Empty constructor to create a dummy symbol object on stack
    // only for getting its vtable pointer.
    Symbol() { }