diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 15a5a999e10..18f180453d4 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2019-03-08  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	PR 24311
+	* merge.c (merge_strings): Return secinfo.  Don't pad section
+	to alignment here.
+	(_bfd_merge_sections): Pad section to alignment here, if input
+	sections contributing to merged output all pad to alignment.
+	Formatting.
+
 2019-03-06  Nick Clifton  <nickc@redhat.com>
 
 	* dwarf2.c (_bfd_dwarf2_find_symbol_bias): Check for a NULL symbol
diff --git a/bfd/merge.c b/bfd/merge.c
index fb7c0858beb..632c8523903 100644
--- a/bfd/merge.c
+++ b/bfd/merge.c
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@ is_suffix (const struct sec_merge_hash_entry *A,
 
 /* This is a helper function for _bfd_merge_sections.  It attempts to
    merge strings matching suffixes of longer strings.  */
-static bfd_boolean
+static struct sec_merge_sec_info *
 merge_strings (struct sec_merge_info *sinfo)
 {
   struct sec_merge_hash_entry **array, **a, *e;
@@ -633,7 +633,7 @@ merge_strings (struct sec_merge_info *sinfo)
   amt = sinfo->htab->size * sizeof (struct sec_merge_hash_entry *);
   array = (struct sec_merge_hash_entry **) bfd_malloc (amt);
   if (array == NULL)
-    return FALSE;
+    return NULL;
 
   for (e = sinfo->htab->first, a = array; e; e = e->next)
     if (e->alignment)
@@ -703,11 +703,6 @@ merge_strings (struct sec_merge_info *sinfo)
 	}
     }
   secinfo->sec->size = size;
-  if (secinfo->sec->alignment_power != 0)
-    {
-      bfd_size_type align = (bfd_size_type) 1 << secinfo->sec->alignment_power;
-      secinfo->sec->size = (secinfo->sec->size + align - 1) & -align;
-    }
 
   /* And now adjust the rest, removing them from the chain (but not hashtable)
      at the same time.  */
@@ -724,7 +719,7 @@ merge_strings (struct sec_merge_info *sinfo)
 	    e->u.index = e->u.suffix->u.index + (e->u.suffix->len - e->len);
 	  }
       }
-  return TRUE;
+  return secinfo;
 }
 
 /* This function is called once after all SEC_MERGE sections are registered
@@ -740,7 +735,8 @@ _bfd_merge_sections (bfd *abfd,
 
   for (sinfo = (struct sec_merge_info *) xsinfo; sinfo; sinfo = sinfo->next)
     {
-      struct sec_merge_sec_info * secinfo;
+      struct sec_merge_sec_info *secinfo;
+      bfd_size_type align;
 
       if (! sinfo->chain)
 	continue;
@@ -751,6 +747,7 @@ _bfd_merge_sections (bfd *abfd,
       secinfo->next = NULL;
 
       /* Record the sections into the hash table.  */
+      align = 1;
       for (secinfo = sinfo->chain; secinfo; secinfo = secinfo->next)
 	if (secinfo->sec->flags & SEC_EXCLUDE)
 	  {
@@ -758,18 +755,25 @@ _bfd_merge_sections (bfd *abfd,
 	    if (remove_hook)
 	      (*remove_hook) (abfd, secinfo->sec);
 	  }
-	else if (! record_section (sinfo, secinfo))
-	  return FALSE;
-
-      if (secinfo)
-	continue;
+	else
+	  {
+	    if (!record_section (sinfo, secinfo))
+	      return FALSE;
+	    if (align)
+	      {
+		align = (bfd_size_type) 1 << secinfo->sec->alignment_power;
+		if ((secinfo->sec->size & (align - 1)) != 0)
+		  align = 0;
+	      }
+	  }
 
       if (sinfo->htab->first == NULL)
 	continue;
 
       if (sinfo->htab->strings)
 	{
-	  if (!merge_strings (sinfo))
+	  secinfo = merge_strings (sinfo);
+	  if (!secinfo)
 	    return FALSE;
 	}
       else
@@ -789,8 +793,7 @@ _bfd_merge_sections (bfd *abfd,
 		  e->secinfo->first_str = e;
 		  size = 0;
 		}
-	      size = (size + e->alignment - 1)
-		     & ~((bfd_vma) e->alignment - 1);
+	      size = (size + e->alignment - 1) & ~((bfd_vma) e->alignment - 1);
 	      e->u.index = size;
 	      size += e->len;
 	      secinfo = e->secinfo;
@@ -798,11 +801,16 @@ _bfd_merge_sections (bfd *abfd,
 	  secinfo->sec->size = size;
 	}
 
-	/* Finally remove all input sections which have not made it into
-	   the hash table at all.  */
-	for (secinfo = sinfo->chain; secinfo; secinfo = secinfo->next)
-	  if (secinfo->first_str == NULL)
-	    secinfo->sec->flags |= SEC_EXCLUDE | SEC_KEEP;
+      /* If the input sections were padded according to their alignments,
+	 then pad the output too.  */
+      if (align)
+	secinfo->sec->size = (secinfo->sec->size + align - 1) & -align;
+
+      /* Finally remove all input sections which have not made it into
+	 the hash table at all.  */
+      for (secinfo = sinfo->chain; secinfo; secinfo = secinfo->next)
+	if (secinfo->first_str == NULL)
+	  secinfo->sec->flags |= SEC_EXCLUDE | SEC_KEEP;
     }
 
   return TRUE;