diff --git a/gdb/breakpoint.c b/gdb/breakpoint.c
--- a/gdb/breakpoint.c
+++ b/gdb/breakpoint.c
@@ -8773,7 +8773,7 @@ init_breakpoint_sal (struct breakpoint *b, struct gdbarch *gdbarch,
 		     int enabled, int internal, unsigned flags,
 		     int display_canonical)
 {
-  int i;
+  int i ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED;
 
   if (type == bp_hardware_breakpoint)
     {
@@ -14271,7 +14271,7 @@ enable_breakpoint_disp (struct breakpoint *bpt, enum bpdisp disposition,
 
   if (bpt->type == bp_hardware_breakpoint)
     {
-      int i;
+      int i ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED;
       i = hw_breakpoint_used_count ();
       target_resources_ok = 
 	target_can_use_hardware_watchpoint (bp_hardware_breakpoint, 
diff --git a/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux.h b/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/* Native support for GNU/Linux i386.
+
+   Copyright 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program 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 General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef NM_LINUX_H
+#define NM_LINUX_H
+
+#include "config/nm-linux.h"
+
+/* Red Hat backward compatibility with gdb-6.8.  */
+#define target_can_use_hardware_watchpoint(type, cnt, ot) 1
+
+#endif /* NM_LINUX64_H */
diff --git a/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux64.h b/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux64.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/config/i386/nm-linux64.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/* Native support for GNU/Linux amd64.
+
+   Copyright 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program 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 General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef NM_LINUX64_H
+#define NM_LINUX64_H
+
+#include "config/nm-linux.h"
+
+/* Red Hat backward compatibility with gdb-6.8.  */
+#define target_can_use_hardware_watchpoint(type, cnt, ot) 1
+
+#endif /* NM_LINUX64_H */
diff --git a/gdb/configure.nat b/gdb/configure.nat
--- a/gdb/configure.nat
+++ b/gdb/configure.nat
@@ -245,6 +245,7 @@ case ${gdb_host} in
 		;;
 	    i386)
 		# Host: Intel 386 running GNU/Linux.
+		NAT_FILE="${srcdir}/config/${gdb_host_cpu}/nm-linux.h"
 		NATDEPFILES="${NATDEPFILES} x86-nat.o nat/x86-dregs.o \
 		i386-linux-nat.o x86-linux-nat.o nat/linux-btrace.o \
 		nat/x86-linux.o nat/x86-linux-dregs.o"
@@ -301,6 +302,7 @@ case ${gdb_host} in
 	case ${gdb_host_cpu} in
 	    i386)
 		# Host: GNU/Linux x86-64
+		NAT_FILE="${srcdir}/config/${gdb_host_cpu}/nm-linux64.h"
 		NATDEPFILES="${NATDEPFILES} x86-nat.o nat/x86-dregs.o \
 		amd64-nat.o amd64-linux-nat.o x86-linux-nat.o \
 		nat/linux-btrace.o \
diff --git a/gdb/target.h b/gdb/target.h
--- a/gdb/target.h
+++ b/gdb/target.h
@@ -1971,9 +1971,11 @@ extern struct thread_info *target_thread_handle_to_thread_info
    one.  OTHERTYPE is the number of watchpoints of other types than
    this one used so far.  */
 
+#ifndef target_can_use_hardware_watchpoint
 #define target_can_use_hardware_watchpoint(TYPE,CNT,OTHERTYPE) \
  (current_top_target ()->can_use_hw_breakpoint) ( \
 					     TYPE, CNT, OTHERTYPE)
+#endif
 
 /* Returns the number of debug registers needed to watch the given
    memory region, or zero if not supported.  */
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/watchpoint-hw-before-run.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/watchpoint-hw-before-run.exp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/watchpoint-hw-before-run.exp
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Copyright 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program 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 General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# Arch not supporting hw watchpoints does not imply no_hardware_watchpoints set.
+if {(![istarget "i?86-*-*"] && ![istarget "x86_64-*-*"]
+     && ![istarget "ia64-*-*"])
+    || [target_info exists gdb,no_hardware_watchpoints]} then {
+    verbose "Skipping watchpoint-hw-before-run test."
+    return
+}
+
+set test watchpoint-hw-before-run
+set srcfile watchpoint-hw-hit-once.c
+if { [prepare_for_testing ${test}.exp ${test} ${srcfile}] } {
+    return -1
+}
+
+gdb_test "rwatch watchee" "ardware read watchpoint 1: watchee"
+
+# `runto_main' or `runto main' would delete the watchpoint created above.
+
+if { [gdb_start_cmd] < 0 } {
+    untested start
+    return -1
+}
+gdb_test "" "main .* at .*" "start"
+
+gdb_test "continue" "Continuing.\r\n\r\nHardware read watchpoint \[0-9\]+: watchee\r\n\r\nValue = 0\r\n.*"