diff --git a/gdb/riscv-tdep.c b/gdb/riscv-tdep.c
index 30c777db6f2..d812b7c8693 100644
--- a/gdb/riscv-tdep.c
+++ b/gdb/riscv-tdep.c
@@ -2789,20 +2789,16 @@ static const struct frame_unwind riscv_frame_unwind =
   /*.prev_arch     =*/ NULL,
 };
 
-/* Find a suitable default target description.  Use the contents of INFO,
-   specifically the bfd object being executed, to guide the selection of a
-   suitable default target description.  */
+/* Extract a set of required target features out of INFO, specifically the
+   bfd being executed is examined to see what target features it requires.
+   IF there is no current bfd, or the bfd doesn't indicate any useful
+   features then a RISCV_GDBARCH_FEATURES is returned in its default state.  */
 
-static const struct target_desc *
-riscv_find_default_target_description (const struct gdbarch_info info)
+static struct riscv_gdbarch_features
+riscv_features_from_gdbarch_info (const struct gdbarch_info info)
 {
   struct riscv_gdbarch_features features;
 
-  /* Setup some arbitrary defaults.  */
-  features.xlen = 8;
-  features.flen = 0;
-  features.hw_float_abi = false;
-
   /* Now try to improve on the defaults by looking at the binary we are
      going to execute.  We assume the user knows what they are doing and
      that the target will match the binary.  Remember, this code path is
@@ -2847,6 +2843,26 @@ riscv_find_default_target_description (const struct gdbarch_info info)
 			binfo->bits_per_word);
     }
 
+  return features;
+}
+
+/* Find a suitable default target description.  Use the contents of INFO,
+   specifically the bfd object being executed, to guide the selection of a
+   suitable default target description.  */
+
+static const struct target_desc *
+riscv_find_default_target_description (const struct gdbarch_info info)
+{
+  /* Extract desired feature set from INFO.  */
+  struct riscv_gdbarch_features features
+    = riscv_features_from_gdbarch_info (info);
+
+  /* If the XLEN field is still 0 then we got nothing useful from INFO.  In
+     this case we fall back to a minimal useful target, 8-byte x-registers,
+     with no floating point.  */
+  if (features.xlen == 0)
+    features.xlen = 8;
+
   /* Now build a target description based on the feature set.  */
   return riscv_create_target_description (features);
 }
@@ -2981,7 +2997,6 @@ riscv_gdbarch_init (struct gdbarch_info info,
 
       int bitsize = tdesc_register_bitsize (feature_fpu, "ft0");
       features.flen = (bitsize / 8);
-      features.hw_float_abi = true;
 
       if (riscv_debug_gdbarch)
         fprintf_filtered
@@ -2991,7 +3006,6 @@ riscv_gdbarch_init (struct gdbarch_info info,
   else
     {
       features.flen = 0;
-      features.hw_float_abi = false;
 
       if (riscv_debug_gdbarch)
         fprintf_filtered
@@ -3015,6 +3029,29 @@ riscv_gdbarch_init (struct gdbarch_info info,
       return NULL;
     }
 
+  /* Have a look at what the supplied (if any) bfd object requires of the
+     target, then check that this matches with what the target is
+     providing.  */
+  struct riscv_gdbarch_features info_features
+    = riscv_features_from_gdbarch_info (info);
+  if (info_features.xlen != 0 && info_features.xlen != features.xlen)
+    error (_("bfd requires xlen %d, but target has xlen %d"),
+           info_features.xlen, features.xlen);
+  if (info_features.flen != 0 && info_features.flen != features.flen)
+    error (_("bfd requires flen %d, but target has flen %d"),
+           info_features.flen, features.flen);
+
+  /* If the xlen from INFO_FEATURES is 0 then this indicates either there
+     is no bfd object, or nothing useful could be extracted from it, in
+     this case we enable hardware float abi if the target has floating
+     point registers.
+
+     If the xlen from INFO_FEATURES is not 0, and the flen in
+     INFO_FEATURES is also not 0, then this indicates that the supplied
+     bfd does require hardware floating point abi.  */
+  if (info_features.xlen == 0 || info_features.flen != 0)
+    features.hw_float_abi = (features.flen > 0);
+
   /* Find a candidate among the list of pre-declared architectures.  */
   for (arches = gdbarch_list_lookup_by_info (arches, &info);
        arches != NULL;
