diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 44286c2195..c4c4fa2647 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2021-03-02  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	PR 27451
+	* elf64-ppc.c (ppc64_elf_gc_mark_dynamic_ref): Ignore synthesized
+	linker defined start/stop symbols when start_stop_gc.
+
 2021-03-02  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	* elf64-ppc.c (ppc64_elf_relocate_section): Don't optimise got
diff --git a/bfd/elf64-ppc.c b/bfd/elf64-ppc.c
index 769fff9bb5..ab0e0d33aa 100644
--- a/bfd/elf64-ppc.c
+++ b/bfd/elf64-ppc.c
@@ -5749,6 +5749,9 @@ ppc64_elf_gc_mark_dynamic_ref (struct elf_link_hash_entry *h, void *inf)
 
   if ((eh->elf.root.type == bfd_link_hash_defined
        || eh->elf.root.type == bfd_link_hash_defweak)
+      && (!eh->elf.start_stop
+	  || eh->elf.root.ldscript_def
+	  || !info->start_stop_gc)
       && ((eh->elf.ref_dynamic && !eh->elf.forced_local)
 	  || ((eh->elf.def_regular || ELF_COMMON_DEF_P (&eh->elf))
 	      && ELF_ST_VISIBILITY (eh->elf.other) != STV_INTERNAL
diff --git a/ld/ChangeLog b/ld/ChangeLog
index 2bb97bd280..d12e537791 100644
--- a/ld/ChangeLog
+++ b/ld/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2021-03-02  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	* testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.d,
+	* testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.r,
+	* testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.s: New test.
+	* testsuite/ld-powerpc/powerpc.exp: Run it.
+
 2021-03-02  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	* testsuite/ld-powerpc/weak1.d,
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/powerpc.exp b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/powerpc.exp
index 8aa0eccfa0..2ac02b1c02 100644
--- a/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/powerpc.exp
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/powerpc.exp
@@ -350,6 +350,9 @@ set ppc64elftests {
     {"weak1.so" "-shared -melf64ppc --hash-style=both" ""
 	"-a64 -mpower10" {weak1.s}
 	{{objdump -d weak1so.d} {readelf {-srW} weak1so.r}} "weak1.so"}
+    {"startstop" "-shared -melf64ppc --hash-style=sysv --gc-sections -z start-stop-gc" ""
+	"-a64 -mpower10" {startstop.s}
+	{{objdump -d startstop.d} {readelf {-rW} startstop.r}} "startstop.so"}
 }
 
 set ppceabitests {
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.d b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2bf4c73cbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.d
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+
+.*:     file format .*
+
+Disassembly of section \.text:
+
+0+140 <_start>:
+ 140:	(04 10 00 01|01 00 10 04) 	pld     r3,66000
+ 144:	(e4 60 01 d0|d0 01 60 e4) 
+ 148:	(04 10 00 01|01 00 10 04) 	pld     r4,65984
+ 14c:	(e4 80 01 c0|c0 01 80 e4) 
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.r b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.r
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9a583fbfad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.r
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+There are no relocations in this file.
diff --git a/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.s b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8e88a72157
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ld/testsuite/ld-powerpc/startstop.s
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+ .weak __start_xx
+ .weak __stop_xx
+
+ .global _start
+_start:
+  pld 3,__start_xx@got@pcrel
+  pld 4,__stop_xx@got@pcrel
+
+ .section xx,"a",unique,0
+ .byte 0
+
+ .section xx,"a",unique,1
+ .byte 1
+
+ .section xx,"a",unique,2
+ .byte 2