diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index dfb5c46505e..60c00692662 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2004-09-06  Nick Clifton  <nickc@redhat.com>
+
+	* elflink.c (elf_link_add_object_symbols): Set the error code to
+	bfd_error_wrong_format when the input format does not match the
+	output format.
+
 2004-09-06  Alan Modra  <amodra@bigpond.net.au>
 
 	* elf64-ppc.c (is_ppc64_target): New function, extracted from..
diff --git a/bfd/elflink.c b/bfd/elflink.c
index 6ccc08c751b..e82a8e318b5 100644
--- a/bfd/elflink.c
+++ b/bfd/elflink.c
@@ -2940,7 +2940,10 @@ elf_link_add_object_symbols (bfd *abfd, struct bfd_link_info *info)
 	  || !is_elf_hash_table (hash_table)
 	  || hash_table->root.creator != abfd->xvec)
 	{
-	  bfd_set_error (bfd_error_invalid_operation);
+	  if (info->relocatable)
+	    bfd_set_error (bfd_error_invalid_operation);
+	  else
+	    bfd_set_error (bfd_error_wrong_format);
 	  goto error_return;
 	}
     }