diff --git a/bfd/elf.c b/bfd/elf.c
index db45d1a074b..02246b1360c 100644
--- a/bfd/elf.c
+++ b/bfd/elf.c
@@ -2928,6 +2928,44 @@ bfd_section_from_shdr (bfd *abfd, unsigned int shindex)
 	    goto success;
 	  }
 
+	/* Check to make sure that the target supports this type of relocation.
+	   Note - we do not treat lack of support as a failure, since we may
+	   just be displaying information from an experimental file that is
+	   using an unexpected relocation type.  Plus if we 'goto fail' here
+	   our error message will be suppressed by the format matching code.
+	   Instead we tell the users that they might not be getting the
+	   results that they expect.  */
+	static bool already_warned = false;  /* Only warn once.  */
+	if (! already_warned)
+	  {
+	    bool supported;
+	    const char * rel_name;
+
+	    switch (hdr->sh_type)
+	      {
+	      case SHT_REL:
+		supported = get_elf_backend_data (abfd)->may_use_rel_p;
+		rel_name = "REL";
+		break;
+
+	      case SHT_RELA:
+		supported = get_elf_backend_data (abfd)->may_use_rela_p;
+		rel_name = "RELA";
+		break;
+
+	      default:
+		supported = true;
+	      }
+
+	    if (! supported)
+	      {
+		/* xgettext:c-format */
+		_bfd_error_handler (_("%pB: Warning: %s type relocations are not expected for architecture '%s' - supprt may be incomplete"),
+				    abfd, rel_name, bfd_printable_name (abfd));
+		already_warned = true;
+	      }
+	  }
+
 	/* Get the symbol table.  */
 	if ((elf_elfsections (abfd)[hdr->sh_link]->sh_type == SHT_SYMTAB
 	     || elf_elfsections (abfd)[hdr->sh_link]->sh_type == SHT_DYNSYM)