diff --git a/src/current/include/preproc/symtable.xsl b/src/current/include/preproc/symtable.xsl
index bac735d0..8f1ca9f5 100644
--- a/src/current/include/preproc/symtable.xsl
+++ b/src/current/include/preproc/symtable.xsl
@@ -843,7 +843,8 @@
 </template>
 
 
-<template match="preproc:sym[ @type='param' ]" mode="preproc:symtable-complete" priority="5">
+<template mode="preproc:symtable-complete" priority="5"
+          match="preproc:sym[ @need-resolve-dtype='true' ]">
   <param name="syms" as="element( preproc:sym )*" />
 
   <!-- attempt to derive type information from a typedef -->
@@ -863,7 +864,7 @@
 
   <!-- complete datatype with primitive -->
   <copy>
-    <sequence select="@*" />
+    <sequence select="@*[ not( local-name() = 'need-resolve-dtype' ) ]" />
     <attribute name="dtype" select="$typedef/@dtype" />
   </copy>
 </template>
diff --git a/src/symtable/symbols.xsl b/src/symtable/symbols.xsl
index e35ab08c..b96a80b1 100644
--- a/src/symtable/symbols.xsl
+++ b/src/symtable/symbols.xsl
@@ -345,11 +345,16 @@
   <variable name="dim" as="xs:integer"
             select="_symtable:str-to-dim( @set )" />
 
+  <!-- @need-resolve-dtype flags this symbol as needing further processing
+       to resolve @dtype, which we cannot do until we know we have a full
+       symbol table that includes the necessary typedef referenced by the
+       current value of @dtype  -->
   <preproc:sym type="param"
                name="{@name}"
                dim="{$dim}"
                desc="{@desc}"
                dtype="{@type}"
+               need-resolve-dtype="true"
                default="{@default}"
                tex="{@sym}" />
 </template>
diff --git a/test/symtable/symbols.xspec b/test/symtable/symbols.xspec
index 9f67ccdf..b6e62cd7 100644
--- a/test/symtable/symbols.xspec
+++ b/test/symtable/symbols.xspec
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
                    dim="1"
                    desc="Vector param"
                    dtype="footype"
+                   need-resolve-dtype="true"
                    default=""
                    tex="" />
 
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@
                    dim="2"
                    desc="Matrix param with TeX"
                    dtype="tex"
+                   need-resolve-dtype="true"
                    default=""
                    tex="\tex" />
 
@@ -79,6 +81,7 @@
                    dim="0"
                    desc="Scalar param (implicit)"
                    dtype="bar"
+                   need-resolve-dtype="true"
                    default=""
                    tex="" />
 
@@ -87,6 +90,7 @@
                    dim="0"
                    desc="Scalar param (explicit)"
                    dtype="bar"
+                   need-resolve-dtype="true"
                    default=""
                    tex="" />
 
@@ -95,6 +99,7 @@
                    dim="-1"
                    desc="Unknown dimension"
                    dtype="wtf"
+                   need-resolve-dtype="true"
                    default=""
                    tex="" />
     </expect>