diff --git a/gcc/ChangeLog b/gcc/ChangeLog
index 3443ac81e5b..46f3306a18d 100644
--- a/gcc/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2010-07-15  Ulrich Weigand  <Ulrich.Weigand@de.ibm.com>
+
+	PR target/44877
+	* config/spu/spu.c (spu_expand_builtin_1): Allow references
+	(as well as pointers) as argument to mask_for_load builtins.
+
 2010-07-15  Richard Guenther  <rguenther@suse.de>
 
 	PR tree-optimization/44946
diff --git a/gcc/config/spu/spu.c b/gcc/config/spu/spu.c
index 7c672b8ae2b..9a600ebed47 100644
--- a/gcc/config/spu/spu.c
+++ b/gcc/config/spu/spu.c
@@ -6514,7 +6514,7 @@ spu_expand_builtin_1 (struct spu_builtin_description *d,
 
       /* get addr */
       arg = CALL_EXPR_ARG (exp, 0);
-      gcc_assert (TREE_CODE (TREE_TYPE (arg)) == POINTER_TYPE);
+      gcc_assert (POINTER_TYPE_P (TREE_TYPE (arg)));
       op = expand_expr (arg, NULL_RTX, Pmode, EXPAND_NORMAL);
       addr = memory_address (mode, op);