diff --git a/gcc/cp/ChangeLog b/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
index c6027213187..7b91727aca9 100644
--- a/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2012-01-02  Paolo Carlini  <paolo.carlini@oracle.com>
+
+	PR c++/20140
+	* typeck2.c (digest_init_r): Use copy_init when initializing
+	an array of chars.
+
 2012-01-01  Paolo Carlini  <paolo.carlini@oracle.com>
 
 	PR c++/16603
diff --git a/gcc/cp/typeck2.c b/gcc/cp/typeck2.c
index 4648e756481..a1b4274bdb1 100644
--- a/gcc/cp/typeck2.c
+++ b/gcc/cp/typeck2.c
@@ -902,7 +902,11 @@ digest_init_r (tree type, tree init, bool nested, int flags,
 		}
 	    }
 
-	  TREE_TYPE (init) = type;
+	  if (type != TREE_TYPE (init))
+	    {
+	      init = copy_node (init);
+	      TREE_TYPE (init) = type;
+	    }
 	  if (TYPE_DOMAIN (type) != 0 && TREE_CONSTANT (TYPE_SIZE (type)))
 	    {
 	      int size = TREE_INT_CST_LOW (TYPE_SIZE (type));
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
index dd29a88d25e..ea547a3f70a 100644
--- a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2012-01-02  Paolo Carlini  <paolo.carlini@oracle.com>
+
+	PR c++/20140
+	* g++.dg/template/init9.C: New.
+
 2012-01-02  Richard Sandiford  <rdsandiford@googlemail.com>
 
 	* gcc.dg/memcpy-4.c: Add nomips16 attribute for MIPS targets.
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/template/init9.C b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/template/init9.C
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d33c7da17b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/template/init9.C
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// PR c++/20140
+
+template<typename T> void foo()
+{
+  unsigned char s[] = "";
+}
+
+int main()
+{
+  foo<char>();
+  foo<int>();
+}