diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 9784c1fb50..891b6b9051 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+1999-05-07  Nick Clifton  <nickc@cygnus.com>
+
+	* coff-mcore.c (coff_mcore_relocate_section): Replace assert about
+	endianism with an error message.
+
 Thu May  6 17:09:09 1999  Fred Fish  <fnf@be.com>
 
 	* dwarf2.c (read_abbrevs): Change cast of dwarf_abbrev_buffer
diff --git a/bfd/coff-mcore.c b/bfd/coff-mcore.c
index d787096e37..0180517eea 100644
--- a/bfd/coff-mcore.c
+++ b/bfd/coff-mcore.c
@@ -357,8 +357,19 @@ coff_mcore_relocate_section (output_bfd, info, input_bfd, input_section,
   if (info->relocateable)
     return true;
   
-  BFD_ASSERT (input_bfd->xvec->byteorder
-	      == output_bfd->xvec->byteorder);
+  /* Check if we have the same endianess */
+  if (   input_bfd->xvec->byteorder != output_bfd->xvec->byteorder
+      && output_bfd->xvec->byteorder != BFD_ENDIAN_UNKNOWN)
+    {
+      (*_bfd_error_handler)
+	(_("%s: compiled for a %s endian system and target is %s endian.\n"),
+	 bfd_get_filename (input_bfd),
+         bfd_big_endian (input_bfd) ? "big" : "little",
+         bfd_big_endian (output_bfd) ? "big" : "little");
+
+      bfd_set_error (bfd_error_wrong_format);
+      return false;
+    }
 
   hihalf = false;
   hihalf_val = 0;