diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 7d0fdb87cb..06dc3b3d7e 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2016-01-04  Maciej W. Rozycki  <macro@imgtec.com>
+
+	* elfxx-mips.c (_bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data): Suppress
+	attribute checks for null input.
+
 2016-01-04  Maciej W. Rozycki  <macro@imgtec.com>
 
 	* elfxx-mips.c (_bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data): Use local
diff --git a/bfd/elfxx-mips.c b/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
index 39e65d68a0..e502f73c79 100644
--- a/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
+++ b/bfd/elfxx-mips.c
@@ -15056,21 +15056,9 @@ _bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd)
       return FALSE;
     }
 
-  /* Set up the FP ABI attribute from the abiflags if it is not already
-     set.  */
-  if (in_tdata->abiflags_valid)
-    {
-      obj_attribute *in_attr = elf_known_obj_attributes (ibfd)[OBJ_ATTR_GNU];
-      if (in_attr[Tag_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP].i == Val_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP_ANY)
-        in_attr[Tag_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP].i = in_tdata->abiflags.fp_abi;
-    }
-
-  if (!mips_elf_merge_obj_attributes (ibfd, obfd))
-    return FALSE;
-
-  /* Check to see if the input BFD actually contains any sections.
-     If not, its flags may not have been initialised either, but it cannot
-     actually cause any incompatibility.  */
+  /* Check to see if the input BFD actually contains any sections.  If not,
+     then it has no attributes, and its flags may not have been initialized
+     either, but it cannot actually cause any incompatibility.  */
   for (sec = ibfd->sections; sec != NULL; sec = sec->next)
     {
       /* Ignore synthetic sections and empty .text, .data and .bss sections
@@ -15092,6 +15080,18 @@ _bfd_mips_elf_merge_private_bfd_data (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd)
   if (null_input_bfd)
     return TRUE;
 
+  /* Set up the FP ABI attribute from the abiflags if it is not already
+     set.  */
+  if (in_tdata->abiflags_valid)
+    {
+      obj_attribute *in_attr = elf_known_obj_attributes (ibfd)[OBJ_ATTR_GNU];
+      if (in_attr[Tag_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP].i == Val_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP_ANY)
+        in_attr[Tag_GNU_MIPS_ABI_FP].i = in_tdata->abiflags.fp_abi;
+    }
+
+  if (!mips_elf_merge_obj_attributes (ibfd, obfd))
+    return FALSE;
+
   /* Populate abiflags using existing information.  */
   if (!in_tdata->abiflags_valid)
     {