diff --git a/gas/ChangeLog b/gas/ChangeLog
index 6156e1e4296..d88f003a2ca 100644
--- a/gas/ChangeLog
+++ b/gas/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2017-04-27  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	* symbols.c (S_FORCE_RELOC): Separate section and symbol tests.
+
 2017-04-26  Maciej W. Rozycki  <macro@imgtec.com>
 
 	* config/tc-mips.c (RELAX_ENCODE): Add `PIC' flag.
diff --git a/gas/symbols.c b/gas/symbols.c
index d4f09fca14b..7146c7d5734 100644
--- a/gas/symbols.c
+++ b/gas/symbols.c
@@ -2091,16 +2091,20 @@ S_IS_DEFINED (symbolS *s)
 int
 S_FORCE_RELOC (symbolS *s, int strict)
 {
+  segT sec;
   if (LOCAL_SYMBOL_CHECK (s))
-    return ((struct local_symbol *) s)->lsy_section == undefined_section;
-
-  return ((strict
+    sec = ((struct local_symbol *) s)->lsy_section;
+  else
+    {
+      if ((strict
 	   && ((s->bsym->flags & BSF_WEAK) != 0
 	       || (EXTERN_FORCE_RELOC
 		   && (s->bsym->flags & BSF_GLOBAL) != 0)))
-	  || (s->bsym->flags & BSF_GNU_INDIRECT_FUNCTION) != 0
-	  || s->bsym->section == undefined_section
-	  || bfd_is_com_section (s->bsym->section));
+	  || (s->bsym->flags & BSF_GNU_INDIRECT_FUNCTION) != 0)
+	return TRUE;
+      sec = s->bsym->section;
+    }
+  return bfd_is_und_section (sec) || bfd_is_com_section (sec);
 }
 
 int