diff --git a/binutils/ChangeLog b/binutils/ChangeLog
index 931d9d080d..56df68f03c 100644
--- a/binutils/ChangeLog
+++ b/binutils/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2014-04-07  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	PR binutils/16811
+	* objcopy.c (copy_object): Error if no sections.
+
 2014-04-03  Markus Trippelsdorf  <markus@trippelsdorf.de>
 
 	PR binutils/14698
diff --git a/binutils/objcopy.c b/binutils/objcopy.c
index 6215919bb7..873908c688 100644
--- a/binutils/objcopy.c
+++ b/binutils/objcopy.c
@@ -1598,6 +1598,13 @@ copy_object (bfd *ibfd, bfd *obfd, const bfd_arch_info_type *input_arch)
       return FALSE;
     }
 
+  if (ibfd->sections == NULL)
+    {
+      non_fatal (_("error: the input file '%s' has no sections"),
+		 bfd_get_archive_filename (ibfd));
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
   if (verbose)
     printf (_("copy from `%s' [%s] to `%s' [%s]\n"),
 	    bfd_get_archive_filename (ibfd), bfd_get_target (ibfd),