diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index 3c9d149c0a3a..90c826f5a05a 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2007-01-30  Richard Guenther  <rguenther@suse.de>
+
+	PR middle-end/27657
+	* dwarf2out.c (reference_to_unused): Query varpool if the
+	variable was output.
+
 2007-01-30  Richard Guenther  <rguenther@suse.de>
 
 	PR middle-end/30313
diff --git a/gcc/dwarf2out.c b/gcc/dwarf2out.c
index 6cd343553949..2968d3b3547d 100644
--- a/gcc/dwarf2out.c
+++ b/gcc/dwarf2out.c
@@ -10045,8 +10045,14 @@ reference_to_unused (tree * tp, int * walk_subtrees,
   if (DECL_P (*tp) && ! TREE_PUBLIC (*tp) && ! TREE_USED (*tp)
       && ! TREE_ASM_WRITTEN (*tp))
     return *tp;
-  else
-    return NULL_TREE;
+  else if (DECL_P (*tp) && TREE_CODE (*tp) != FUNCTION_DECL)
+    {
+      struct varpool_node *node = varpool_node (*tp);
+      if (!node->needed)
+	return *tp;
+    }
+
+  return NULL_TREE;
 }
 
 /* Generate an RTL constant from a decl initializer INIT with decl type TYPE,
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
index a8ad0c5d622d..be372cf48d8d 100644
--- a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2007-01-30  Richard Guenther  <rguenther@suse.de>
+
+	PR middle-end/27657
+	* g++.dg/debug/pr27657.C: New testcase.
+
 2007-01-30  Richard Guenther  <rguenther@suse.de>
 
 	PR middle-end/30313
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/debug/pr27657.C b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/debug/pr27657.C
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8351625bbf93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/debug/pr27657.C
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/* { dg-do link } */
+
+const char s[] = "";
+const char *const p = s;
+
+int main()
+{
+  return 0;
+}