diff -rupN --no-dereference binutils-2.32/gold/layout.cc binutils-2.32-new/gold/layout.cc
--- binutils-2.32/gold/layout.cc	2019-01-19 17:01:33.000000000 +0100
+++ binutils-2.32-new/gold/layout.cc	2019-11-19 20:47:10.054636935 +0100
@@ -868,6 +868,7 @@ Layout::get_output_section(const char* n
 		  && (same_name->flags() & elfcpp::SHF_TLS) == 0)
 		os = same_name;
 	    }
+#if 0 /* BZ 1722715, PR 17556.  */
 	  else if ((flags & elfcpp::SHF_TLS) == 0)
 	    {
 	      elfcpp::Elf_Xword zero_flags = 0;
@@ -878,6 +879,7 @@ Layout::get_output_section(const char* n
 	      if (p != this->section_name_map_.end())
 		os = p->second;
 	    }
+#endif
 	}
 
       if (os == NULL)
diff -rupN --no-dereference binutils-2.32/gold/object.cc binutils-2.32-new/gold/object.cc
--- binutils-2.32/gold/object.cc	2019-01-19 17:01:33.000000000 +0100
+++ binutils-2.32-new/gold/object.cc	2019-11-19 20:47:10.054636935 +0100
@@ -1644,6 +1644,13 @@ Sized_relobj_file<size, big_endian>::do_
 	      omit[i] = true;
 	    }
 
+	  // Skip empty sections without flags.
+	  if (!(shdr.get_sh_flags() & ~elfcpp::SHF_GROUP)
+	      && !shdr.get_sh_size())
+	    {
+	      omit[i] = true;
+	    }
+
 	  bool discard = omit[i];
 	  if (!discard)
 	    {
