diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 055b295c7a..282ea37789 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2018-01-23  Philipp Rudo  <prudo@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
+
+	* s390-linux-tdep.c (s390_gdbarch_init): Use gdb_assert for
+	tdesc_has_registers check
+
 2018-01-23  Philipp Rudo  <prudo@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
 
 	* s390-linux-tdep.c (s390_tdesc_valid): New function.
diff --git a/gdb/s390-linux-tdep.c b/gdb/s390-linux-tdep.c
index 054eb60751..3869171e59 100644
--- a/gdb/s390-linux-tdep.c
+++ b/gdb/s390-linux-tdep.c
@@ -8045,15 +8045,13 @@ s390_gdbarch_init (struct gdbarch_info info, struct gdbarch_list *arches)
   tdep->tdesc = tdesc;
 
   /* Check any target description for validity.  */
-  if (tdesc_has_registers (tdesc))
+  gdb_assert (tdesc_has_registers (tdep->tdesc));
+  if (!s390_tdesc_valid (tdep, tdesc_data))
     {
-      if (!s390_tdesc_valid (tdep, tdesc_data))
-	{
-	  tdesc_data_cleanup (tdesc_data);
-	  xfree (tdep);
-	  gdbarch_free (gdbarch);
-	  return NULL;
-	}
+      tdesc_data_cleanup (tdesc_data);
+      xfree (tdep);
+      gdbarch_free (gdbarch);
+      return NULL;
     }
 
   /* Determine vector ABI.  */