diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index a6e5fd60c17..90b8773f418 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Fri Jul 17 03:26:12 1998  Rihcard Earnshaw (rearnsha@arm.com)
+
+	* tree.c (valid_machine_attribute): Only create a new type variant if
+	there is a decl to use it.
+
 Thu Jul 16 14:48:04 1998  Nick Clifton  <nickc@cygnus.com>
 
 	* gcc.c (do_spec_1): Cope with %g/%u/%U options which do not have
diff --git a/gcc/tree.c b/gcc/tree.c
index ec42643f333..b02e87e8af4 100644
--- a/gcc/tree.c
+++ b/gcc/tree.c
@@ -3391,8 +3391,14 @@ valid_machine_attribute (attr_name, attr_args, decl, type)
 	}
       else
 	{
+	  /* If this is part of a declaration, create a type variant,
+	     otherwise, this is part of a type definition, so add it 
+	     to the base type.  */
 	  type_attr_list = tree_cons (attr_name, attr_args, type_attr_list);
-	  type = build_type_attribute_variant (type, type_attr_list);
+	  if (decl != 0)
+	    type = build_type_attribute_variant (type, type_attr_list);
+	  else
+	    TYPE_ATTRIBUTES (type) = type_attr_list;
 	}
       if (decl != 0)
 	TREE_TYPE (decl) = type;