The linker is broken. Take group0.s from gas/testsuite/gas/elf. On Linux/x86: [hjl@gnu-psc gas]$ ./as-new -o foo.o group0.s [hjl@gnu-psc gas]$ ../ld/ld-new -r foo.o ../ld/ld-new: BFD 2.15.91 20040526 internal error, aborting at /net/gnu/export/gnu/src/binutils/binutils/bfd/elf.c line 2671 in bfd_elf_set_group_contents ../ld/ld-new: Please report this bug. H.J.