diff --git a/[refs] b/[refs]
index d96cae988340..a4b94b709b0c 100644
--- a/[refs]
+++ b/[refs]
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 ---
-refs/heads/master: c54a354c1835e7412a53458891b9ea05361b4e8a
+refs/heads/master: 8a3b947c40cb36100f316ac0d433f4ae554ee4cc
diff --git a/trunk/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c b/trunk/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
index b49c2119295e..dce982d4bc31 100644
--- a/trunk/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
+++ b/trunk/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
@@ -570,10 +570,14 @@ static void walk_relocs(void (*visit)(Elf32_Rel *rel, Elf32_Sym *sym),
 			Elf32_Sym *sym;
 			unsigned r_type;
 			const char *symname;
+			int shn_abs;
+
 			rel = &sec->reltab[j];
 			sym = &sh_symtab[ELF32_R_SYM(rel->r_info)];
 			r_type = ELF32_R_TYPE(rel->r_info);
 
+			shn_abs = sym->st_shndx == SHN_ABS;
+
 			switch (r_type) {
 			case R_386_NONE:
 			case R_386_PC32:
@@ -589,7 +593,7 @@ static void walk_relocs(void (*visit)(Elf32_Rel *rel, Elf32_Sym *sym),
 				symname = sym_name(sym_strtab, sym);
 				if (!use_real_mode)
 					goto bad;
-				if (sym->st_shndx == SHN_ABS) {
+				if (shn_abs) {
 					if (is_reloc(S_ABS, symname))
 						break;
 					else if (!is_reloc(S_SEG, symname))
@@ -605,7 +609,7 @@ static void walk_relocs(void (*visit)(Elf32_Rel *rel, Elf32_Sym *sym),
 
 			case R_386_32:
 				symname = sym_name(sym_strtab, sym);
-				if (sym->st_shndx == SHN_ABS) {
+				if (shn_abs) {
 					if (is_reloc(S_ABS, symname))
 						break;
 					else if (!is_reloc(S_REL, symname))
@@ -623,7 +627,8 @@ static void walk_relocs(void (*visit)(Elf32_Rel *rel, Elf32_Sym *sym),
 				break;
 			bad:
 				symname = sym_name(sym_strtab, sym);
-				die("Invalid %s relocation: %s\n",
+				die("Invalid %s %s relocation: %s\n",
+				    shn_abs ? "absolute" : "relative",
 				    rel_type(r_type), symname);
 			}
 		}