Index: include/bits/basic_string.h
===================================================================
--- include/bits/basic_string.h	(revision 137528)
+++ include/bits/basic_string.h	(working copy)
@@ -174,7 +174,8 @@
 
 	// The following storage is init'd to 0 by the linker, resulting
         // (carefully) in an empty string with one reference.
-        static size_type _S_empty_rep_storage[];
+        static char _S_empty_rep_storage[]
+	__attribute__ ((__aligned__(__alignof__(size_t))));
 
         static _Rep&
         _S_empty_rep()
Index: include/bits/basic_string.tcc
===================================================================
--- include/bits/basic_string.tcc	(revision 137528)
+++ include/bits/basic_string.tcc	(working copy)
@@ -75,10 +75,11 @@
   // Linker sets _S_empty_rep_storage to all 0s (one reference, empty string)
   // at static init time (before static ctors are run).
   template<typename _CharT, typename _Traits, typename _Alloc>
-    typename basic_string<_CharT, _Traits, _Alloc>::size_type
+    char
     basic_string<_CharT, _Traits, _Alloc>::_Rep::_S_empty_rep_storage[
-    (sizeof(_Rep_base) + sizeof(_CharT) + sizeof(size_type) - 1) /
-      sizeof(size_type)];
+      sizeof(size_type)
+      * ((sizeof(_Rep_base) + sizeof(_CharT) + sizeof(size_type) - 1)
+	 / sizeof(size_type))];
 
   // NB: This is the special case for Input Iterators, used in
   // istreambuf_iterators, etc.