diff --git a/llvm/lib/Transforms/Utils/FunctionImportUtils.cpp b/llvm/lib/Transforms/Utils/FunctionImportUtils.cpp
--- a/llvm/lib/Transforms/Utils/FunctionImportUtils.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/Transforms/Utils/FunctionImportUtils.cpp
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@
         // references in IR module (not in combined index), so we can
         // ignore them when computing import. We do not export references
         // of writeonly object. See computeImportForReferencedGlobals
-        if (ImportIndex.isWriteOnly(GVS) && GVS->refs().size())
+        if (ImportIndex.isWriteOnly(GVS))
           V->setInitializer(Constant::getNullValue(V->getValueType()));
       }
     }
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/index-const-prop2.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/index-const-prop2.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/index-const-prop2.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/index-const-prop2.ll
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 ; RUN:  -o %t4
 ; RUN: llvm-dis %t4.1.3.import.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=IMPORT2
 
+; Run again but with main2 exported instead of main to check that write only
+; variables are optimized out.
 ; RUN: llvm-lto2 run %t1.bc %t2.bc -save-temps \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t2.bc,foo,pl \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t2.bc,bar,pl \
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@
 ; RUN:  -r=%t1.bc,baz, \
 ; RUN:  -r=%t1.bc,gBar, \
 ; RUN:  -o %t5
-; RUN: llvm-dis %t5.1.3.import.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=IMPORT
+; RUN: llvm-dis %t5.1.3.import.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=IMPORT-WRITEONLY
 ; RUN: llvm-dis %t5.1.5.precodegen.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=CODEGEN2
 ; Check that gFoo and gBar were eliminated from source module together
 ; with corresponsing stores
@@ -59,6 +61,10 @@
 ; IMPORT-NEXT:  @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 2, align 4
 ; IMPORT:       !DICompileUnit({{.*}})
 
+; Write only variables are imported with a zero initializer.
+; IMPORT-WRITEONLY:  @gFoo.llvm.0 = internal unnamed_addr global i32 0
+; IMPORT-WRITEONLY:  @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 0
+
 ; CODEGEN:        i32 @main()
 ; CODEGEN-NEXT:     ret i32 3
 
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly-with-refs.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly-with-refs.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly-with-refs.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly-with-refs.ll
@@ -7,10 +7,22 @@
 ; RUN:    -r=%t2,outer,pl
 
 ; @outer should have been internalized and converted to zeroinitilizer.
-; RUN: llvm-dis %t-out.1.5.precodegen.bc -o - | FileCheck %s
-; RUN: llvm-dis %t-out.2.5.precodegen.bc -o - | FileCheck %s
+; RUN: llvm-dis %t-out.1.3.import.bc -o - | FileCheck %s
+; RUN: llvm-dis %t-out.2.3.import.bc -o - | FileCheck %s
 
-; CHECK: @outer = internal unnamed_addr global %struct.Q zeroinitializer
+; CHECK: @outer = internal local_unnamed_addr global %struct.Q zeroinitializer
+
+; Test again in distributed ThinLTO mode.
+; RUN: llvm-lto2 run -save-temps %t1 %t2 -o %t-out \
+; RUN:    -thinlto-distributed-indexes \
+; RUN:    -r=%t1,main,plx \
+; RUN:    -r=%t1,_Z3foov,l \
+; RUN:    -r=%t2,_Z3foov,pl \
+; RUN:    -r=%t2,outer,pl
+; RUN: opt -function-import -import-all-index -enable-import-metadata -summary-file %t1.thinlto.bc %t1 -o %t1.out
+; RUN: opt -function-import -import-all-index -summary-file %t2.thinlto.bc %t2 -o %t2.out
+; RUN: llvm-dis %t1.out -o - | FileCheck %s
+; RUN: llvm-dis %t2.out -o - | FileCheck %s
 
 source_filename = "main.cpp"
 target datalayout = "e-m:e-p270:32:32-p271:32:32-p272:64:64-i64:64-f80:128-n8:16:32:64-S128"
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly.ll
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 ; RUN: llvm-dis %t1.imported.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=IMPORT
 ; RUN: llvm-lto -thinlto-action=optimize %t1.imported.bc -o - | llvm-dis - -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=OPTIMIZE
 
-; IMPORT: @gFoo.llvm.0 = internal unnamed_addr global i32 1, align 4, !dbg !0
-; IMPORT-NEXT: @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 2, align 4, !dbg !5
+; IMPORT: @gFoo.llvm.0 = internal unnamed_addr global i32 0, align 4, !dbg !0
+; IMPORT-NEXT: @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 0, align 4, !dbg !5
 ; IMPORT: !DICompileUnit({{.*}})
 
 ; STATS:  2 module-summary-index - Number of live global variables marked write only 
diff --git a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly2.ll b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly2.ll
--- a/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly2.ll
+++ b/llvm/test/ThinLTO/X86/writeonly2.ll
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 ; with corresponsing stores
 ; RUN: llvm-dis %t3.2.5.precodegen.bc -o - | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=CODEGEN-SRC
 
-; IMPORT:       @gFoo.llvm.0 = internal unnamed_addr global i32 1, align 4
-; IMPORT-NEXT:  @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 2, align 4
+; IMPORT:       @gFoo.llvm.0 = internal unnamed_addr global i32 0, align 4
+; IMPORT-NEXT:  @gBar = internal local_unnamed_addr global i32 0, align 4
 ; IMPORT:       !DICompileUnit({{.*}})
 
 ; CODEGEN-NOT:  gFoo