Bash 4.2.0(1)-release, which we use during bootstrap, does not yield the "x" case in: case x"$EMULATION_NAME" in x) ;; *) ;; esac when 'EMULATION_NAME' is undefined. Bash 4.3.30(1)-release doesn't have this problem. Work around it. This Bash bug was fixed in . --- a/ld/emulparams/elf32bmipn32-defs.sh +++ b/ld/emulparams/elf32bmipn32-defs.sh @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ LITTLE_OUTPUT_FORMAT="elf32-littlemips" TEMPLATE_NAME=elf32 EXTRA_EM_FILE=mipself -case x"$EMULATION_NAME" in +case "x$EMULATION_NAME" in xelf32*n32*) ELFSIZE=32 ;; xelf64*) ELFSIZE=64 ;; x) ;;