diff -r ef9996662fd5 -r bbe0fcde6e13 hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/signature.hpp
--- a/hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/signature.hpp	Wed Oct 09 11:05:17 2013 -0700
+++ b/hotspot/src/share/vm/runtime/signature.hpp	Wed Oct 09 16:32:21 2013 +0200
@@ -401,6 +401,9 @@
 
   // return same as_symbol except allocation of new symbols is avoided.
   Symbol* as_symbol_or_null();
+
+  // count the number of references in the signature
+  int reference_parameter_count();
 };
 
 class SignatureVerifier : public StackObj {