Index: clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
===================================================================
--- clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
+++ clang/lib/CodeGen/CodeGenAction.cpp
@@ -1146,6 +1146,9 @@
                            CI.getTargetOpts(), CI.getLangOpts(),
                            CI.getFrontendOpts().ShowTimers,
                            std::move(LinkModules), *VMContext, nullptr);
+    // PR44896: Force DiscardValueNames as false. DiscardValueNames cannot be
+    // true here because the valued names are needed for reading textual IR.
+    Ctx.setDiscardValueNames(false);
     Ctx.setDiagnosticHandler(
         std::make_unique<ClangDiagnosticHandler>(CodeGenOpts, &Result));
 
Index: clang/test/CodeGen/PR44896.ll
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ clang/test/CodeGen/PR44896.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+; RUN: %clang_cc1 -triple x86_64-unknown-unknown -O3 -S -emit-llvm %s -discard-value-names -o -
+; PR 44896
+
+define linkonce i8* @b(i8* %a) {
+  ret i8* %a
+}
+