diff --git a/src/cmd/asm/internal/flags/flags.go b/src/cmd/asm/internal/flags/flags.go
index 273d422370..1c8b908860 100644
--- a/src/cmd/asm/internal/flags/flags.go
+++ b/src/cmd/asm/internal/flags/flags.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package flags
 
 import (
+	"cmd/internal/obj"
 	"cmd/internal/objabi"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ var (
 	Linkshared       = flag.Bool("linkshared", false, "generate code that will be linked against Go shared libraries")
 	AllErrors        = flag.Bool("e", false, "no limit on number of errors reported")
 	SymABIs          = flag.Bool("gensymabis", false, "write symbol ABI information to output file, don't assemble")
-	Importpath       = flag.String("p", "", "set expected package import to path")
+	Importpath       = flag.String("p", obj.UnlinkablePkg, "set expected package import to path")
 	Spectre          = flag.String("spectre", "", "enable spectre mitigations in `list` (all, ret)")
 	CompilingRuntime = flag.Bool("compiling-runtime", false, "source to be compiled is part of the Go runtime")
 )
diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/goobj/objfile.go b/src/cmd/internal/goobj/objfile.go
index 665fa41475..34c5bb97f8 100644
--- a/src/cmd/internal/goobj/objfile.go
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/goobj/objfile.go
@@ -281,10 +281,10 @@ const SymSize = stringRefSize + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 + 4
 const SymABIstatic = ^uint16(0)
 
 const (
-	ObjFlagShared            = 1 << iota // this object is built with -shared
-	ObjFlagNeedNameExpansion             // the linker needs to expand `"".` to package path in symbol names
-	ObjFlagFromAssembly                  // object is from asm src, not go
-	ObjFlagUnlinkable                    // unlinkable package (linker will emit an error)
+	ObjFlagShared       = 1 << iota // this object is built with -shared
+	_                               // was ObjFlagNeedNameExpansion
+	ObjFlagFromAssembly             // object is from asm src, not go
+	ObjFlagUnlinkable               // unlinkable package (linker will emit an error)
 )
 
 // Sym.Flag
@@ -873,6 +873,6 @@ func (r *Reader) Flags() uint32 {
 }
 
 func (r *Reader) Shared() bool            { return r.Flags()&ObjFlagShared != 0 }
-func (r *Reader) NeedNameExpansion() bool { return r.Flags()&ObjFlagNeedNameExpansion != 0 }
+func (r *Reader) NeedNameExpansion() bool { return false } // TODO: delete
 func (r *Reader) FromAssembly() bool      { return r.Flags()&ObjFlagFromAssembly != 0 }
 func (r *Reader) Unlinkable() bool        { return r.Flags()&ObjFlagUnlinkable != 0 }
diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/obj/objfile.go b/src/cmd/internal/obj/objfile.go
index d31afda703..89339b0147 100644
--- a/src/cmd/internal/obj/objfile.go
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/obj/objfile.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func WriteObjFile(ctxt *Link, b *bio.Writer) {
 		flags |= goobj.ObjFlagUnlinkable
 	}
 	if w.pkgpath == "" {
-		flags |= goobj.ObjFlagNeedNameExpansion
+		log.Fatal("empty package path")
 	}
 	if ctxt.IsAsm {
 		flags |= goobj.ObjFlagFromAssembly
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/link_test.go b/src/cmd/link/link_test.go
index ac68008d8d..d86f81fac8 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/link_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/link_test.go
@@ -235,9 +235,9 @@ void foo() {
 	cflags := strings.Fields(runGo("env", "GOGCCFLAGS"))
 
 	// Compile, assemble and pack the Go and C code.
-	runGo("tool", "asm", "-gensymabis", "-o", "symabis", "x.s")
+	runGo("tool", "asm", "-p=main", "-gensymabis", "-o", "symabis", "x.s")
 	runGo("tool", "compile", "-symabis", "symabis", "-p=main", "-o", "x1.o", "main.go")
-	runGo("tool", "asm", "-o", "x2.o", "x.s")
+	runGo("tool", "asm", "-p=main", "-o", "x2.o", "x.s")
 	run(cc, append(cflags, "-c", "-o", "x3.o", "x.c")...)
 	runGo("tool", "pack", "c", "x.a", "x1.o", "x2.o", "x3.o")
 
diff --git a/test/run.go b/test/run.go
index 27e16f6892..00f869bc2b 100644
--- a/test/run.go
+++ b/test/run.go
@@ -1024,7 +1024,7 @@ func (t *test) run() {
 				t.err = fmt.Errorf("write empty go_asm.h: %s", err)
 				return
 			}
-			cmd := []string{goTool(), "tool", "asm", "-gensymabis", "-o", "symabis"}
+			cmd := []string{goTool(), "tool", "asm", "-p=main", "-gensymabis", "-o", "symabis"}
 			cmd = append(cmd, asms...)
 			_, err = runcmd(cmd...)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -1045,7 +1045,7 @@ func (t *test) run() {
 		}
 		objs = append(objs, "go.o")
 		if len(asms) > 0 {
-			cmd = []string{goTool(), "tool", "asm", "-e", "-I", ".", "-o", "asm.o"}
+			cmd = []string{goTool(), "tool", "asm", "-p=main", "-e", "-I", ".", "-o", "asm.o"}
 			cmd = append(cmd, asms...)
 			_, err = runcmd(cmd...)
 			if err != nil {