diff --git a/src/cmd/6l/go.c b/src/cmd/6l/go.c
index 19984336b3d..4d2f5ec5412 100644
--- a/src/cmd/6l/go.c
+++ b/src/cmd/6l/go.c
@@ -451,6 +451,8 @@ definetypesigs(void)
 		prog->to.sym = all[i];
 	}
 	s->value = PtrSize*n;
+	if(n == 0)
+		s->value = 1;	// must have non-zero size or 6l complains
 
 	// emit count
 	s = lookup("ngotypesigs", 0);
diff --git a/src/runtime/iface.c b/src/runtime/iface.c
index 4a394fc888b..07bd325843a 100644
--- a/src/runtime/iface.c
+++ b/src/runtime/iface.c
@@ -449,14 +449,6 @@ fakesigt(string type)
 	// TODO(rsc): Cache these by type string.
 	Sigt *sigt;
 
-	// Must be pointer in order for alg, width to be right.
-	if(type == nil || type->len == 0 || type->str[0] != '*') {
-		// TODO(rsc): What to do here?
-		prints("bad unreflect type: ");
-		sys·printstring(type);
-		prints("\n");
-		throw("unreflect");
-	}
 	sigt = mal(2*sizeof sigt[0]);
 	sigt[0].name = mal(type->len + 1);
 	mcpy(sigt[0].name, type->str, type->len);