diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index b35646c645f..9bbd3293147 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-01-22  Richard Sandiford  <rdsandiford@googlemail.com>
+
+	* elfxx-mips.c (_bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data): Ignore
+	common sections too.
+
 2011-01-18  H.J. Lu  <hongjiu.lu@intel.com>
 
 	* elf64-x86-64.c (elf_backend_want_plt_sym): Redefine to 0 after
diff --git a/bfd/elfxx-mips.c b/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
index dcf6a9e7b11..d5e99bbb204 100644
--- a/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
+++ b/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
@@ -12597,8 +12597,11 @@ _bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd)
   for (sec = ibfd->sections; sec != NULL; sec = sec->next)
     {
       /* Ignore synthetic sections and empty .text, .data and .bss sections
-	  which are automatically generated by gas.  */
-      if (strcmp (sec->name, ".reginfo")
+	 which are automatically generated by gas.  Also ignore fake
+	 (s)common sections, since merely defining a common symbol does
+	 not affect compatibility.  */
+      if ((sec->flags & SEC_IS_COMMON) == 0
+	  && strcmp (sec->name, ".reginfo")
 	  && strcmp (sec->name, ".mdebug")
 	  && (sec->size != 0
 	      || (strcmp (sec->name, ".text")
diff --git a/ld/ChangeLog b/ld/ChangeLog
index fe66fb886df..cdc34d6a8e3 100644
--- a/ld/ChangeLog
+++ b/ld/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-01-22  Richard Sandiford  <rdsandiford@googlemail.com>
+
+	* plugin.c (plugin_get_ir_dummy_bfd): Copy across the bfd's
+	private data and GP size.
+
 2011-01-21  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	* ldexp.c (fold_binary): Set result section for arithmetic and
diff --git a/ld/plugin.c b/ld/plugin.c
index 05379b8e610..b285787694b 100644
--- a/ld/plugin.c
+++ b/ld/plugin.c
@@ -237,6 +237,8 @@ plugin_get_ir_dummy_bfd (const char *name, bfd *srctemplate)
 		     srctemplate);
   bfd_set_arch_info (abfd, bfd_get_arch_info (srctemplate));
   bfd_make_writable (abfd);
+  bfd_copy_private_bfd_data (srctemplate, abfd);
+  bfd_set_gp_size (abfd, bfd_get_gp_size (abfd));
   /* Create a minimal set of sections to own the symbols.  */
   sec = bfd_make_section_old_way (abfd, ".text");
   bfd_set_section_flags (abfd, sec,