Index: llvm/include/llvm/LTO/LTO.h
===================================================================
--- llvm/include/llvm/LTO/LTO.h
+++ llvm/include/llvm/LTO/LTO.h
@@ -213,11 +213,11 @@
 /// OnWrite is callback which receives module identifier and notifies LTO user
 /// that index file for the module (and optionally imports file) was created.
 using IndexWriteCallback = std::function<void(const std::string &)>;
-ThinBackend createWriteIndexesThinBackend(std::string OldPrefix,
-                                          std::string NewPrefix,
-                                          bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles,
-                                          std::string LinkedObjectsFile,
-                                          IndexWriteCallback OnWrite);
+ThinBackend
+createWriteIndexesThinBackend(std::string OldPrefix, std::string NewPrefix,
+                              bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles,
+                              std::unique_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFile,
+                              IndexWriteCallback OnWrite);
 
 /// This class implements a resolution-based interface to LLVM's LTO
 /// functionality. It supports regular LTO, parallel LTO code generation and
Index: llvm/lib/LTO/LTO.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/lib/LTO/LTO.cpp
+++ llvm/lib/LTO/LTO.cpp
@@ -1034,10 +1034,7 @@
 class WriteIndexesThinBackend : public ThinBackendProc {
   std::string OldPrefix, NewPrefix;
   bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles;
-
-  std::string LinkedObjectsFileName;
-  std::unique_ptr<llvm::raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFile;
-
+  std::shared_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFile;
   lto::IndexWriteCallback OnWrite;
 
 public:
@@ -1045,11 +1042,12 @@
       Config &Conf, ModuleSummaryIndex &CombinedIndex,
       const StringMap<GVSummaryMapTy> &ModuleToDefinedGVSummaries,
       std::string OldPrefix, std::string NewPrefix, bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles,
-      std::string LinkedObjectsFileName, lto::IndexWriteCallback OnWrite)
+      std::shared_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFile,
+      lto::IndexWriteCallback OnWrite)
       : ThinBackendProc(Conf, CombinedIndex, ModuleToDefinedGVSummaries),
         OldPrefix(OldPrefix), NewPrefix(NewPrefix),
         ShouldEmitImportsFiles(ShouldEmitImportsFiles),
-        LinkedObjectsFileName(LinkedObjectsFileName), OnWrite(OnWrite) {}
+        LinkedObjectsFile(std::move(LinkedObjectsFile)), OnWrite(OnWrite) {}
 
   Error start(
       unsigned Task, BitcodeModule BM,
@@ -1061,21 +1059,14 @@
     std::string NewModulePath =
         getThinLTOOutputFile(ModulePath, OldPrefix, NewPrefix);
 
-    std::error_code EC;
-    if (!LinkedObjectsFileName.empty()) {
-      if (!LinkedObjectsFile) {
-        LinkedObjectsFile = llvm::make_unique<raw_fd_ostream>(
-            LinkedObjectsFileName, EC, sys::fs::OpenFlags::F_None);
-        if (EC)
-          return errorCodeToError(EC);
-      }
+    if (LinkedObjectsFile)
       *LinkedObjectsFile << NewModulePath << '\n';
-    }
 
     std::map<std::string, GVSummaryMapTy> ModuleToSummariesForIndex;
     gatherImportedSummariesForModule(ModulePath, ModuleToDefinedGVSummaries,
                                      ImportList, ModuleToSummariesForIndex);
 
+    std::error_code EC;
     raw_fd_ostream OS(NewModulePath + ".thinlto.bc", EC,
                       sys::fs::OpenFlags::F_None);
     if (EC)
@@ -1097,17 +1088,18 @@
 };
 } // end anonymous namespace
 
-ThinBackend lto::createWriteIndexesThinBackend(std::string OldPrefix,
-                                               std::string NewPrefix,
-                                               bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles,
-                                               std::string LinkedObjectsFile,
-                                               IndexWriteCallback OnWrite) {
+ThinBackend lto::createWriteIndexesThinBackend(
+    std::string OldPrefix, std::string NewPrefix, bool ShouldEmitImportsFiles,
+    std::unique_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFile,
+    IndexWriteCallback OnWrite) {
+  std::shared_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> LinkedObjectsFileShared =
+      std::move(LinkedObjectsFile);
   return [=](Config &Conf, ModuleSummaryIndex &CombinedIndex,
              const StringMap<GVSummaryMapTy> &ModuleToDefinedGVSummaries,
              AddStreamFn AddStream, NativeObjectCache Cache) {
     return llvm::make_unique<WriteIndexesThinBackend>(
         Conf, CombinedIndex, ModuleToDefinedGVSummaries, OldPrefix, NewPrefix,
-        ShouldEmitImportsFiles, LinkedObjectsFile, OnWrite);
+        ShouldEmitImportsFiles, LinkedObjectsFileShared, OnWrite);
   };
 }
 
Index: llvm/test/tools/gold/X86/thinlto_no_objects.ll
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ llvm/test/tools/gold/X86/thinlto_no_objects.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+; Check that thinlto-index-only= always creates linked objects file, even
+; if nothing to add there.
+
+; Non-ThinLTO file should not get into list of linked objects.
+; RUN: opt %s -o %t.o
+
+; RUN: rm -f %t3
+; RUN: %gold -plugin %llvmshlibdir/LLVMgold%shlibext \
+; RUN:    --plugin-opt=thinlto \
+; RUN:    --plugin-opt=thinlto-index-only=%t3 \
+; RUN:    -o %t5 \
+; RUN:    %t.o
+
+; RUN: cat %t3 | count 0
+
+target datalayout = "e-m:e-i64:64-f80:128-n8:16:32:64-S128"
+target triple = "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
+
Index: llvm/tools/gold/gold-plugin.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/gold/gold-plugin.cpp
+++ llvm/tools/gold/gold-plugin.cpp
@@ -736,6 +736,22 @@
   std::tie(OldPrefix, NewPrefix) = PrefixReplace.split(';');
 }
 
+// Creates and return output stream with a list of object files for final
+// linking of distributed ThinLTO.
+static std::unique_ptr<raw_fd_ostream> CreateLinkedObjectsFile() {
+  if (!options::thinlto_linked_objects_file.empty()) {
+    std::error_code EC;
+    auto LinkedObjectsFile = llvm::make_unique<raw_fd_ostream>(
+        options::thinlto_linked_objects_file, EC, sys::fs::OpenFlags::F_None);
+    if (EC)
+      message(LDPL_FATAL, "Failed to create '%s': %s",
+              options::thinlto_linked_objects_file.c_str(),
+              EC.message().c_str());
+    return LinkedObjectsFile;
+  }
+  return nullptr;
+}
+
 static std::unique_ptr<LTO> createLTO(IndexWriteCallback OnIndexWrite) {
   Config Conf;
   ThinBackend Backend;
@@ -762,7 +778,7 @@
     getThinLTOOldAndNewPrefix(OldPrefix, NewPrefix);
     Backend = createWriteIndexesThinBackend(
         OldPrefix, NewPrefix, options::thinlto_emit_imports_files,
-        options::thinlto_linked_objects_file, OnIndexWrite);
+        CreateLinkedObjectsFile(), OnIndexWrite);
   }
 
   Conf.OverrideTriple = options::triple;
Index: llvm/tools/llvm-lto2/llvm-lto2.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/llvm-lto2/llvm-lto2.cpp
+++ llvm/tools/llvm-lto2/llvm-lto2.cpp
@@ -243,7 +243,11 @@
 
   ThinBackend Backend;
   if (ThinLTODistributedIndexes)
-    Backend = createWriteIndexesThinBackend("", "", true, "", {});
+    Backend = createWriteIndexesThinBackend(/* OldPrefix */ "",
+                                            /* NewPrefix */ "",
+                                            /* ShouldEmitImportsFiles */ true,
+                                            /* LinkedObjectsFile */ nullptr,
+                                            /* OnWrite */ {});
   else
     Backend = createInProcessThinBackend(Threads);
   LTO Lto(std::move(Conf), std::move(Backend));