diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index d715d97dc4e..146eb18973b 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2003-03-14  Jason Merrill  <jason@redhat.com>
+
+	PR optimization/6871
+	* varasm.c (assemble_variable): Leave constant zeroes in .rodata.
+
 2003-03-14  Neil Booth  <neil@daikokuya.co.uk>
 
 	* c-opts.c (finish_options): New.
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/gcc.dg/section1.c b/gcc/testsuite/gcc.dg/section1.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e907f193b0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/gcc.dg/section1.c
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+/* PR optimization/6871 */
+/* Constant variables belong in .rodata, not .bss.  */
+/* { dg-final { scan-assembler-not "\.bss" } } */
+
+const int i = 0;
diff --git a/gcc/varasm.c b/gcc/varasm.c
index dea352a9097..42775dca5bc 100644
--- a/gcc/varasm.c
+++ b/gcc/varasm.c
@@ -1551,6 +1551,8 @@ assemble_variable (decl, top_level, at_end, dont_output_data)
   else if (DECL_INITIAL (decl) == 0
 	   || DECL_INITIAL (decl) == error_mark_node
 	   || (flag_zero_initialized_in_bss
+	       /* Leave constant zeroes in .rodata so they can be shared.  */
+	       && !TREE_READONLY (decl)
 	       && initializer_zerop (DECL_INITIAL (decl))))
     {
       unsigned HOST_WIDE_INT size = tree_low_cst (DECL_SIZE_UNIT (decl), 1);