Index: llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
===================================================================
--- llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
+++ llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/group.test
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # RUN: yaml2obj %s -o %t
-# RUN: llvm-objcopy --remove-section=.text.bar %t %t2
-# RUN: llvm-readobj --elf-section-groups %t2 | FileCheck %s
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy --remove-section=.text.bar %t %t1
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --elf-section-groups %t1 | FileCheck %s
 
 # In this test the section .text.bar is getting removed, as a result, 
 # the indices of the sections which go after .text.bar will change, 
@@ -54,3 +54,17 @@
     Section:         .text.foo
     Size:            0x0000000000000000
     Binding:         STB_WEAK
+
+# This checks that tool will emit an error when trying to remove the symbol
+# table when we have the a group section linked with symtab.
+# RUN: not llvm-objcopy -R .symtab %t.o %t2 2>&1 >/dev/null | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=ERR -DINPUT=%t.o
+# ERR: error: '[[INPUT]]': section '.symtab' cannot be removed because it is referenced by the group section '.group'
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --file-headers --sections %t | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=CHECKEXIST
+# CHECKEXIST: SectionHeaderCount: 7
+
+# The '.symtab' section could be removed using --allow-broken-links option
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy --allow-broken-links -R .symtab %t.o %t3
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --sections %t3 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=SECTIONS --implicit-check-not=.symtab
+# SECTIONS:      Name: .group
+# RUN: llvm-readobj --file-headers --sections %t3 | FileCheck %s --check-prefix=CHECKREMOVED
+# CHECKREMOVED: SectionHeaderCount: 6
Index: llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.h
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.h
+++ llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.h
@@ -475,6 +475,7 @@
 class Section : public SectionBase {
   MAKE_SEC_WRITER_FRIEND
 
+protected:
   ArrayRef<uint8_t> Contents;
   SectionBase *LinkSection = nullptr;
 
@@ -487,6 +488,8 @@
       function_ref<bool(const SectionBase *)> ToRemove) override;
   void initialize(SectionTableRef SecTable) override;
   void finalize() override;
+
+  ArrayRef<uint8_t> getContents() const { return Contents; }
 };
 
 class OwnedDataSection : public SectionBase {
@@ -779,7 +782,7 @@
 // TODO: The way stripping and groups interact is complicated
 // and still needs to be worked on.
 
-class GroupSection : public SectionBase {
+class GroupSection : public Section {
   MAKE_SEC_WRITER_FRIEND
   const SymbolTableSection *SymTab = nullptr;
   Symbol *Sym = nullptr;
@@ -787,11 +790,7 @@
   SmallVector<SectionBase *, 3> GroupMembers;
 
 public:
-  // TODO: Contents is present in several classes of the hierarchy.
-  // This needs to be refactored to avoid duplication.
-  ArrayRef<uint8_t> Contents;
-
-  explicit GroupSection(ArrayRef<uint8_t> Data) : Contents(Data) {}
+  explicit GroupSection(ArrayRef<uint8_t> Data) : Section(Data) {}
 
   void setSymTab(const SymbolTableSection *SymTabSec) { SymTab = SymTabSec; }
   void setSymbol(Symbol *S) { Sym = S; }
@@ -800,6 +799,7 @@
 
   void accept(SectionVisitor &) const override;
   void accept(MutableSectionVisitor &Visitor) override;
+  void initialize(SectionTableRef SecTable) override;
   void finalize() override;
   Error removeSectionReferences(
       bool AllowBrokenLinks,
Index: llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
+++ llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp
@@ -965,6 +965,14 @@
   return Error::success();
 }
 
+void GroupSection::initialize(SectionTableRef SecTable) {
+  if (Link == ELF::SHN_UNDEF)
+    return;
+  LinkSection = SecTable.getSection(Link, "Link field value " + Twine(Link) +
+                                              " in group section " + Name +
+                                              " is invalid");
+}
+
 void GroupSection::finalize() {
   this->Info = Sym->Index;
   this->Link = SymTab->Index;
@@ -972,6 +980,14 @@
 
 Error GroupSection::removeSectionReferences(
     bool AllowBrokenLinks, function_ref<bool(const SectionBase *)> ToRemove) {
+  if (ToRemove(LinkSection)) {
+    if (!AllowBrokenLinks)
+      return createStringError(llvm::errc::invalid_argument,
+                               "section '%s' cannot be removed because it is "
+                               "referenced by the group section '%s'",
+                               LinkSection->Name.data(), this->Name.data());
+    LinkSection = nullptr;
+  }
   llvm::erase_if(GroupMembers, ToRemove);
   return Error::success();
 }
@@ -1350,13 +1366,12 @@
           GroupSec->Name + "' is not a valid symbol index");
   GroupSec->setSymTab(SymTab);
   GroupSec->setSymbol(Sym);
-  if (GroupSec->Contents.size() % sizeof(ELF::Elf32_Word) ||
-      GroupSec->Contents.empty())
+  const ArrayRef<uint8_t> Contents = GroupSec->getContents();
+  if (Contents.size() % sizeof(ELF::Elf32_Word) || Contents.empty())
     error("the content of the section " + GroupSec->Name + " is malformed");
   const ELF::Elf32_Word *Word =
-      reinterpret_cast<const ELF::Elf32_Word *>(GroupSec->Contents.data());
-  const ELF::Elf32_Word *End =
-      Word + GroupSec->Contents.size() / sizeof(ELF::Elf32_Word);
+      reinterpret_cast<const ELF::Elf32_Word *>(Contents.data());
+  const ELF::Elf32_Word *End = Word + Contents.size() / sizeof(ELF::Elf32_Word);
   GroupSec->setFlagWord(*Word++);
   for (; Word != End; ++Word) {
     uint32_t Index = support::endian::read32<ELFT::TargetEndianness>(Word);