diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 63c022d6b9..4a10f06d3d 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@ if 'CFLAGS' is specified it must enable optimization.  For example:
      library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
      example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
 
+'--with-default-link=FLAG'
+     '--with-default-link=yes' does not use a custom linker scipt for
+     linking the individual parts of the GNU C Library.  The default for
+     FLAG is 'no' because the custom linker script is needed for full
+     RELRO protection.
+
 '--with-nonshared-cflags=CFLAGS'
      Use additional compiler flags CFLAGS to build the parts of the
      library which are always statically linked into applications and
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d2f413d05d..650bfd982c 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -3375,7 +3375,7 @@ fi
 if test "${with_default_link+set}" = set; then :
   withval=$with_default_link; use_default_link=$withval
 else
-  use_default_link=default
+  use_default_link=no
 fi
 
 
@@ -6184,69 +6184,6 @@ fi
 $as_echo "$libc_cv_hashstyle" >&6; }
 
 
-# The linker's default -shared behavior is good enough if it
-# does these things that our custom linker scripts ensure that
-# all allocated NOTE sections come first.
-if test "$use_default_link" = default; then
-  { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for sufficient default -shared layout" >&5
-$as_echo_n "checking for sufficient default -shared layout... " >&6; }
-if ${libc_cv_use_default_link+:} false; then :
-  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
-else
-    libc_cv_use_default_link=no
-  cat > conftest.s <<\EOF
-	  .section .note.a,"a",%note
-	  .balign 4
-	  .long 4,4,9
-	  .string "GNU"
-	  .string "foo"
-	  .section .note.b,"a",%note
-	  .balign 4
-	  .long 4,4,9
-	  .string "GNU"
-	  .string "bar"
-EOF
-  if { ac_try='  ${CC-cc} $ASFLAGS -shared -o conftest.so conftest.s 1>&5'
-  { { eval echo "\"\$as_me\":${as_lineno-$LINENO}: \"$ac_try\""; } >&5
-  (eval $ac_try) 2>&5
-  ac_status=$?
-  $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: \$? = $ac_status" >&5
-  test $ac_status = 0; }; } &&
-       ac_try=`$READELF -S conftest.so | sed -n \
-	 '${x;p;}
-	  s/^ *\[ *[1-9][0-9]*\]  *\([^ ][^ ]*\)  *\([^ ][^ ]*\) .*$/\2 \1/
-	  t a
-	  b
-	  : a
-	  H'`
-  then
-    libc_seen_a=no libc_seen_b=no
-    set -- $ac_try
-    while test $# -ge 2 -a "$1" = NOTE; do
-      case "$2" in
-      .note.a) libc_seen_a=yes ;;
-      .note.b) libc_seen_b=yes ;;
-      esac
-      shift 2
-    done
-    case "$libc_seen_a$libc_seen_b" in
-    yesyes)
-      libc_cv_use_default_link=yes
-      ;;
-    *)
-      echo >&5 "\
-$libc_seen_a$libc_seen_b from:
-$ac_try"
-      ;;
-    esac
-  fi
-  rm -f conftest*
-fi
-{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $libc_cv_use_default_link" >&5
-$as_echo "$libc_cv_use_default_link" >&6; }
-  use_default_link=$libc_cv_use_default_link
-fi
-
 { $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for GLOB_DAT reloc" >&5
 $as_echo_n "checking for GLOB_DAT reloc... " >&6; }
 if ${libc_cv_has_glob_dat+:} false; then :
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b6a747dece..605efd549d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([default-link],
 	    AS_HELP_STRING([--with-default-link],
 			   [do not use explicit linker scripts]),
 	    [use_default_link=$withval],
-	    [use_default_link=default])
+	    [use_default_link=no])
 
 dnl Additional build flags injection.
 AC_ARG_WITH([nonshared-cflags],
@@ -1371,59 +1371,6 @@ fi
 rm -f conftest*])
 AC_SUBST(libc_cv_hashstyle)
 
-# The linker's default -shared behavior is good enough if it
-# does these things that our custom linker scripts ensure that
-# all allocated NOTE sections come first.
-if test "$use_default_link" = default; then
-  AC_CACHE_CHECK([for sufficient default -shared layout],
-		  libc_cv_use_default_link, [dnl
-  libc_cv_use_default_link=no
-  cat > conftest.s <<\EOF
-	  .section .note.a,"a",%note
-	  .balign 4
-	  .long 4,4,9
-	  .string "GNU"
-	  .string "foo"
-	  .section .note.b,"a",%note
-	  .balign 4
-	  .long 4,4,9
-	  .string "GNU"
-	  .string "bar"
-EOF
-  if AC_TRY_COMMAND([dnl
-  ${CC-cc} $ASFLAGS -shared -o conftest.so conftest.s 1>&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD]) &&
-       ac_try=`$READELF -S conftest.so | sed -n \
-	 ['${x;p;}
-	  s/^ *\[ *[1-9][0-9]*\]  *\([^ ][^ ]*\)  *\([^ ][^ ]*\) .*$/\2 \1/
-	  t a
-	  b
-	  : a
-	  H']`
-  then
-    libc_seen_a=no libc_seen_b=no
-    set -- $ac_try
-    while test $# -ge 2 -a "$1" = NOTE; do
-      case "$2" in
-      .note.a) libc_seen_a=yes ;;
-      .note.b) libc_seen_b=yes ;;
-      esac
-      shift 2
-    done
-    case "$libc_seen_a$libc_seen_b" in
-    yesyes)
-      libc_cv_use_default_link=yes
-      ;;
-    *)
-      echo >&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD "\
-$libc_seen_a$libc_seen_b from:
-$ac_try"
-      ;;
-    esac
-  fi
-  rm -f conftest*])
-  use_default_link=$libc_cv_use_default_link
-fi
-
 AC_CACHE_CHECK(for GLOB_DAT reloc,
 	       libc_cv_has_glob_dat, [dnl
 cat > conftest.c <<EOF
diff --git a/elf/Makefile b/elf/Makefile
index c96924e9c2..366559fc96 100644
--- a/elf/Makefile
+++ b/elf/Makefile
@@ -543,6 +543,39 @@ endif
 endif
 endif
 
+tests-special += $(objpfx)tst-relro-ldso.out $(objpfx)tst-relro-libc.out
+$(objpfx)tst-relro-ldso.out: tst-relro-symbols.py $(..)/scripts/glibcelf.py \
+  $(objpfx)ld.so
+	$(PYTHON) tst-relro-symbols.py $(objpfx)ld.so \
+	  --required=_rtld_global_ro \
+	  > $@ 2>&1; $(evaluate-test)
+# The optional symbols are present in libc only if the architecture has
+# the GLIBC_2.0 symbol set in libc.
+$(objpfx)tst-relro-libc.out: tst-relro-symbols.py $(..)/scripts/glibcelf.py \
+  $(common-objpfx)libc.so
+	$(PYTHON) tst-relro-symbols.py $(common-objpfx)libc.so \
+	    --required=_IO_cookie_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_file_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_file_jumps_maybe_mmap \
+	    --required=_IO_file_jumps_mmap \
+	    --required=_IO_helper_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_mem_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_obstack_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_proc_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_str_chk_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_str_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_strn_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_wfile_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_wfile_jumps_maybe_mmap \
+	    --required=_IO_wfile_jumps_mmap \
+	    --required=_IO_wmem_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_wstr_jumps \
+	    --required=_IO_wstrn_jumps \
+	    --optional=_IO_old_cookie_jumps \
+	    --optional=_IO_old_file_jumps \
+	    --optional=_IO_old_proc_jumps \
+	  > $@ 2>&1; $(evaluate-test)
+
 ifeq ($(run-built-tests),yes)
 tests-special += $(objpfx)tst-valgrind-smoke.out
 endif
diff --git a/elf/tst-relro-symbols.py b/elf/tst-relro-symbols.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b496ac3251
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elf/tst-relro-symbols.py
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+# Verify that certain symbols are covered by RELRO.
+# Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+# This file is part of the GNU C Library.
+#
+# The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+# version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
+# <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+"""Analyze a (shared) object to verify that certain symbols are
+present and covered by the PT_GNU_RELRO segment.
+
+"""
+
+import argparse
+import os.path
+import sys
+
+# Make available glibc Python modules.
+sys.path.append(os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), os.path.pardir, 'scripts'))
+
+import glibcelf
+
+def find_relro(path: str, img: glibcelf.Image) -> (int, int):
+    """Discover the address range of the PT_GNU_RELRO segment."""
+    for phdr in img.phdrs():
+        if phdr.p_type == glibcelf.Pt.PT_GNU_RELRO:
+            # The computation is not entirely accurate because
+            # _dl_protect_relro in elf/dl-reloc.c rounds both the
+            # start end and downwards using the run-time page size.
+            return phdr.p_vaddr, phdr.p_vaddr + phdr.p_memsz
+    sys.stdout.write('{}: error: no PT_GNU_RELRO segment\n'.format(path))
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+def check_in_relro(kind, relro_begin, relro_end, name, start, size, error):
+    """Check if a section or symbol falls within in the RELRO segment."""
+    end = start + size - 1
+    if not (relro_begin <= start < end < relro_end):
+        error(
+            '{} {!r} of size {} at 0x{:x} is not in RELRO range [0x{:x}, 0x{:x})'.format(
+                kind, name.st_name.decode('UTF-8'), start, size,
+                relro_begin, relro_end))
+
+def get_parser():
+    """Return an argument parser for this script."""
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument('object', help='path to object file to check')
+    parser.add_argument('--required', metavar='NAME', default=(),
+                        help='required symbol names', nargs='*')
+    parser.add_argument('--optional', metavar='NAME', default=(),
+                        help='required symbol names', nargs='*')
+    return parser
+
+def main(argv):
+    """The main entry point."""
+    parser = get_parser()
+    opts = parser.parse_args(argv)
+    img = glibcelf.Image.readfile(opts.object)
+
+    required_symbols = frozenset([sym.encode('UTF-8')
+                                  for sym in opts.required])
+    optional_symbols = frozenset([sym.encode('UTF-8')
+                                  for sym in opts.optional])
+    check_symbols = required_symbols | optional_symbols
+
+    # Tracks the symbols in check_symbols that have been found.
+    symbols_found = set()
+
+    # Discover the extent of the RELRO segment.
+    relro_begin, relro_end = find_relro(opts.object, img)
+    symbol_table_found = False
+
+    errors = False
+    def error(msg: str) -> None:
+        """Record an error condition and write a message to standard output."""
+        nonlocal errors
+        errors = True
+        sys.stdout.write('{}: error: {}\n'.format(opts.object, msg))
+
+    # Iterate over section headers to find the symbol table.
+    for shdr in img.shdrs():
+        if shdr.sh_type == glibcelf.Sht.SHT_SYMTAB:
+            symbol_table_found = True
+            for sym in img.syms(shdr):
+                if sym.st_name in check_symbols:
+                    symbols_found.add(sym.st_name)
+
+                    # Validate symbol type, section, and size.
+                    if sym.st_info.type != glibcelf.Stt.STT_OBJECT:
+                        error('symbol {!r} has wrong type {}'.format(
+                            sym.st_name.decode('UTF-8'), sym.st_info.type))
+                    if sym.st_shndx in glibcelf.Shn:
+                        error('symbol {!r} has reserved section {}'.format(
+                            sym.st_name.decode('UTF-8'), sym.st_shndx))
+                        continue
+                    if sym.st_size == 0:
+                        error('symbol {!r} has size zero'.format(
+                            sym.st_name.decode('UTF-8')))
+                        continue
+
+                    check_in_relro('symbol', relro_begin, relro_end,
+                                   sym.st_name, sym.st_value, sym.st_size,
+                                   error)
+            continue # SHT_SYMTAB
+        if shdr.sh_name == b'.data.rel.ro' \
+           or shdr.sh_name.startswith(b'.data.rel.ro.'):
+            check_in_relro('section', relro_begin, relro_end,
+                           shdr.sh_name, shdr.sh_addr, shdr.sh_size,
+                           error)
+            continue
+
+    if required_symbols - symbols_found:
+        for sym in sorted(required_symbols - symbols_found):
+            error('symbol {!r} not found'.format(sym.decode('UTF-8')))
+
+    if errors:
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    if not symbol_table_found:
+        sys.stdout.write(
+            '{}: warning: no symbol table found (stripped object)\n'.format(
+                opts.object))
+        sys.exit(77)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main(sys.argv[1:])
diff --git a/manual/install.texi b/manual/install.texi
index 29c52f2927..a77ce09fa8 100644
--- a/manual/install.texi
+++ b/manual/install.texi
@@ -117,6 +117,12 @@ problem and suppress these constructs, so that the library will still be
 usable, but functionality may be lost---for example, you can't build a
 shared libc with old binutils.
 
+@item --with-default-link=@var{FLAG}
+@code{--with-default-link=yes} does not use a custom linker scipt for
+linking the individual parts of @theglibc{}.  The default for @var{FLAG}
+is @samp{no} because the custom linker script is needed for full RELRO
+protection.
+
 @item --with-nonshared-cflags=@var{cflags}
 Use additional compiler flags @var{cflags} to build the parts of the
 library which are always statically linked into applications and
diff --git a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/ia64/Makefile b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/ia64/Makefile
index da85ba43e2..c5cc41b367 100644
--- a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/ia64/Makefile
+++ b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/ia64/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+ifeq ($(subdir),elf)
+# ia64 does not support PT_GNU_RELRO.
+test-xfail-tst-relro-ldso = yes
+test-xfail-tst-relro-libc = yes
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(subdir),misc)
 sysdep_headers += sys/rse.h
 endif
