diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index 79ce2565082..91c2c898982 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+1999-07-17  Kaveh R. Ghazi  <ghazi@caip.rutgers.edu>
+
+        * Makefile.in (stmp-multilib-sub): Make the files extracted
+        from $(LIBGCC1) writable.
+
 Sat Jul 17 14:25:46 1999  Nick Clifton  <nickc@cygnus.com>
 
 	* config/arm/aout.h: Reformat for improved readability.
diff --git a/gcc/Makefile.in b/gcc/Makefile.in
index e5ceefe05a2..302648ab68f 100644
--- a/gcc/Makefile.in
+++ b/gcc/Makefile.in
@@ -1245,6 +1245,11 @@ stmp-multilib-sub:
 	then (cd tmpcopy; $(AR_FOR_TARGET) x ../$(LIBGCC1)); \
 	else true; \
 	fi
+# Some versions of ar (specifically the one in RISC/os 5.x), create an
+# unwritable table of contents file, and then print an error message when
+# the second ar command tries to overwrite this file.  To avoid the error
+# message from ar, we make sure all files are writable.
+	-(cd tmpcopy; chmod +w * > /dev/null 2>&1)
 	(cd tmpcopy; $(AR_FOR_TARGET) x ../$(LIBGCC2))
 	(cd tmpcopy; $(AR_FOR_TARGET) $(AR_FLAGS_FOR_TARGET) ../tmplibgcc.a *$(objext))
 	rm -rf libgcc2.a tmpcopy