diff --git a/checks.c b/checks.c
index 9548579..35141f9 100644
--- a/checks.c
+++ b/checks.c
@@ -282,6 +282,7 @@
 					  struct node *node)
 {
 	struct property *prop;
+	struct marker *m;
 	struct node *other;
 	cell_t phandle;
 
@@ -295,6 +296,23 @@
 		return;
 	}
 
+	m = prop->val.markers;
+	for_each_marker_of_type(m, REF_PHANDLE) {
+		assert(m->offset == 0);
+		if (node != get_node_by_ref(root, m->ref))
+			/* "Set this node's phandle equal to some
+			 * other node's phandle".  That's nonsensical
+			 * by construction. */
+			FAIL(c, "linux,phandle in %s is a reference to another node",
+			     node->fullpath);
+		/* But setting this node's phandle equal to its own
+		 * phandle is allowed - that means allocate a unique
+		 * phandle for this node, even if it's not otherwise
+		 * referenced.  The value will be filled in later, so
+		 * no further checking for now. */
+		return;
+	}
+
 	phandle = propval_cell(prop);
 	if ((phandle == 0) || (phandle == -1)) {
 		FAIL(c, "%s has invalid linux,phandle value 0x%x",
diff --git a/livetree.c b/livetree.c
index 0ca3de5..2fa1490 100644
--- a/livetree.c
+++ b/livetree.c
@@ -293,16 +293,18 @@
 	if ((node->phandle != 0) && (node->phandle != -1))
 		return node->phandle;
 
-	assert(! get_property(node, "linux,phandle"));
-
 	while (get_node_by_phandle(root, phandle))
 		phandle++;
 
 	node->phandle = phandle;
-	add_property(node,
-		     build_property("linux,phandle",
-				    data_append_cell(empty_data, phandle),
-				    NULL));
+	if (!get_property(node, "linux,phandle"))
+		add_property(node,
+			     build_property("linux,phandle",
+					    data_append_cell(empty_data, phandle),
+					    NULL));
+	/* If the node *does* have a linux,phandle property, we must
+	 * be dealing with a self-referencing phandle, which will be
+	 * fixed up momentarily in the caller */
 
 	return node->phandle;
 }
diff --git a/tests/references.c b/tests/references.c
index cbc33f8..b20f21f 100644
--- a/tests/references.c
+++ b/tests/references.c
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	void *fdt;
-	int n1, n2, n3, n4;
-	uint32_t h1, h2, h4;
+	int n1, n2, n3, n4, n5;
+	uint32_t h1, h2, h4, h5;
 
 	test_init(argc, argv);
 	fdt = load_blob_arg(argc, argv);
@@ -78,10 +78,14 @@
 	n4 = fdt_path_offset(fdt, "/node4");
 	if (n4 < 0)
 		FAIL("fdt_path_offset(/node4): %s", fdt_strerror(n4));
+	n5 = fdt_path_offset(fdt, "/node5");
+	if (n5 < 0)
+		FAIL("fdt_path_offset(/node5): %s", fdt_strerror(n5));
 
 	h1 = fdt_get_phandle(fdt, n1);
 	h2 = fdt_get_phandle(fdt, n2);
 	h4 = fdt_get_phandle(fdt, n4);
+	h5 = fdt_get_phandle(fdt, n5);
 
 	if (h1 != 0x2000)
 		FAIL("/node1 has wrong phandle, 0x%x instead of 0x%x",
@@ -92,6 +96,11 @@
 	if ((h4 == 0x2000) || (h4 == 0x1) || (h4 == 0))
 		FAIL("/node4 has bad phandle, 0x%x", h4);
 
+	if ((h5 == 0) || (h5 == -1))
+		FAIL("/node5 has bad phandle, 0x%x", h5);
+	if ((h5 == h4) || (h5 == h2) || (h5 == h1))
+		FAIL("/node5 has duplicate phandle, 0x%x", h5);
+
 	check_ref(fdt, n1, h2);
 	check_ref(fdt, n2, h1);
 	check_ref(fdt, n3, h4);
diff --git a/tests/references.dts b/tests/references.dts
index 36b6f51..19b28ac 100644
--- a/tests/references.dts
+++ b/tests/references.dts
@@ -20,4 +20,14 @@
 	};
 	n4: node4 {
 	};
+
+	/* Explicit phandle with implicit value */
+	/* This self-reference is the standard way to tag a node as requiring
+	 * a phandle (perhaps for reference by nodes that will be dynamically
+	 * added) without explicitly allocating it a phandle.
+	 * The self-reference requires some special internal handling, though
+	 * so check it actually works */
+	n5: node5 {
+		linux,phandle = <&n5>;
+	};
 };
diff --git a/tests/references_dts0.dts b/tests/references_dts0.dts
index 36b6f51..d34dbb2 100644
--- a/tests/references_dts0.dts
+++ b/tests/references_dts0.dts
@@ -20,4 +20,7 @@
 	};
 	n4: node4 {
 	};
+	n5: node5 {
+		linux,phandle = <&n5>;
+	};
 };
diff --git a/tests/run_tests.sh b/tests/run_tests.sh
index c6ac48e..b27e2b5 100755
--- a/tests/run_tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run_tests.sh
@@ -229,7 +229,8 @@
     run_test dtbs_equal_ordered boot_cpuid_preserved_test_tree1.test.dtb boot_cpuid_test_tree1.test.dtb
 
     # Check -Odts mode preserve all dtb information
-    for tree in test_tree1.dtb dtc_tree1.test.dtb dtc_escapes.test.dtb ; do
+    for tree in test_tree1.dtb dtc_tree1.test.dtb dtc_escapes.test.dtb \
+	dtc_references.test.dtb; do
 	run_dtc_test -I dtb -O dts -o odts_$tree.test.dts $tree
 	run_dtc_test -I dts -O dtb -o odts_$tree.test.dtb odts_$tree.test.dts
 	run_test dtbs_equal_ordered $tree odts_$tree.test.dtb