diff --git a/gcc/gcov-tool.cc b/gcc/gcov-tool.cc
index f4e42ae763c78ac18e4c977ceead17aa5cd263b9..2e4083a664d0366ae85e6ece613c2beac08698c5 100644
--- a/gcc/gcov-tool.cc
+++ b/gcc/gcov-tool.cc
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ see the files COPYING3 and COPYING.RUNTIME respectively.  If not, see
 #endif
 #include <getopt.h>
 
-extern int gcov_profile_merge (struct gcov_info*, struct gcov_info*, int, int);
+extern struct gcov_info *gcov_profile_merge (struct gcov_info*,
+					     struct gcov_info*, int, int);
 extern int gcov_profile_overlap (struct gcov_info*, struct gcov_info*);
 extern int gcov_profile_normalize (struct gcov_info*, gcov_type);
 extern int gcov_profile_scale (struct gcov_info*, float, int, int);
@@ -141,26 +142,18 @@ profile_merge (const char *d1, const char *d2, const char *out, int w1, int w2)
 {
   struct gcov_info *d1_profile;
   struct gcov_info *d2_profile;
-  int ret;
+  struct gcov_info *merged_profile;
 
   d1_profile = gcov_read_profile_dir (d1, 0);
-  if (!d1_profile)
-    return 1;
-
-  if (d2)
-    {
-      d2_profile = gcov_read_profile_dir (d2, 0);
-      if (!d2_profile)
-        return 1;
+  d2_profile = gcov_read_profile_dir (d2, 0);
 
-      /* The actual merge: we overwrite to d1_profile.  */
-      ret = gcov_profile_merge (d1_profile, d2_profile, w1, w2);
+  /* The actual merge: we overwrite to d1_profile.  */
+  merged_profile = gcov_profile_merge (d1_profile, d2_profile, w1, w2);
 
-      if (ret)
-        return ret;
-    }
-
-  gcov_output_files (out, d1_profile);
+  if (merged_profile)
+    gcov_output_files (out, merged_profile);
+  else if (verbose)
+    fnotice (stdout, "no profile files were merged\n");
 
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/libgcc/libgcov-util.c b/libgcc/libgcov-util.c
index ba7fb924b530c29a4c0f22430eb5477104c63b89..100f1b19f1a2050dcc03ec1a9d77ecca871bf2e7 100644
--- a/libgcc/libgcov-util.c
+++ b/libgcc/libgcov-util.c
@@ -674,16 +674,16 @@ find_match_gcov_info (struct gcov_info **array, int size,
 }
 
 /* Merge the list of gcov_info objects from SRC_PROFILE to TGT_PROFILE.
-   Return 0 on success: without mismatch.
-   Reutrn 1 on error.  */
+   Return the list of merged gcov_info objects.  Return NULL if the list is
+   empty.  */
 
-int
+struct gcov_info *
 gcov_profile_merge (struct gcov_info *tgt_profile, struct gcov_info *src_profile,
                     int w1, int w2)
 {
   struct gcov_info *gi_ptr;
   struct gcov_info **tgt_infos;
-  struct gcov_info *tgt_tail;
+  struct gcov_info **tgt_tail;
   struct gcov_info **in_src_not_tgt;
   unsigned tgt_cnt = 0, src_cnt = 0;
   unsigned unmatch_info_cnt = 0;
@@ -703,7 +703,10 @@ gcov_profile_merge (struct gcov_info *tgt_profile, struct gcov_info *src_profile
   for (gi_ptr = tgt_profile, i = 0; gi_ptr; gi_ptr = gi_ptr->next, i++)
     tgt_infos[i] = gi_ptr;
 
-  tgt_tail = tgt_infos[tgt_cnt - 1];
+  if (tgt_cnt)
+     tgt_tail = &tgt_infos[tgt_cnt - 1]->next;
+  else
+     tgt_tail = &tgt_profile;
 
   /* First pass on tgt_profile, we multiply w1 to all counters.  */
   if (w1 > 1)
@@ -732,14 +735,14 @@ gcov_profile_merge (struct gcov_info *tgt_profile, struct gcov_info *src_profile
       gi_ptr = in_src_not_tgt[i];
       gcov_merge (gi_ptr, gi_ptr, w2 - 1);
       gi_ptr->next = NULL;
-      tgt_tail->next = gi_ptr;
-      tgt_tail = gi_ptr;
+      *tgt_tail = gi_ptr;
+      tgt_tail = &gi_ptr->next;
     }
 
   free (in_src_not_tgt);
   free (tgt_infos);
 
-  return 0;
+  return tgt_profile;
 }
 
 typedef gcov_type (*counter_op_fn) (gcov_type, void*, void*);