diff --git a/linux-user/ppc/signal.c b/linux-user/ppc/signal.c
index ecd99736b7..20a02c197c 100644
--- a/linux-user/ppc/signal.c
+++ b/linux-user/ppc/signal.c
@@ -35,12 +35,26 @@ struct target_mcontext {
     target_ulong mc_gregs[48];
     /* Includes fpscr.  */
     uint64_t mc_fregs[33];
+
 #if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     /* Pointer to the vector regs */
     target_ulong v_regs;
+    /*
+     * On ppc64, this mcontext structure is naturally *unaligned*,
+     * or rather it is aligned on a 8 bytes boundary but not on
+     * a 16 byte boundary.  This pad fixes it up.  This is why we
+     * cannot use ppc_avr_t, which would force alignment.  This is
+     * also why the vector regs are referenced in the ABI by the
+     * v_regs pointer above so any amount of padding can be added here.
+     */
+    target_ulong pad;
+    /* VSCR and VRSAVE are saved separately.  Also reserve space for VSX. */
+    struct {
+        uint64_t altivec[34 + 16][2];
+    } mc_vregs;
 #else
     target_ulong mc_pad[2];
-#endif
+
     /* We need to handle Altivec and SPE at the same time, which no
        kernel needs to do.  Fortunately, the kernel defines this bit to
        be Altivec-register-large all the time, rather than trying to
@@ -48,32 +62,14 @@ struct target_mcontext {
     union {
         /* SPE vector registers.  One extra for SPEFSCR.  */
         uint32_t spe[33];
-        /* Altivec vector registers.  The packing of VSCR and VRSAVE
-           varies depending on whether we're PPC64 or not: PPC64 splits
-           them apart; PPC32 stuffs them together.
-           We also need to account for the VSX registers on PPC64
-        */
-#if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
-#define QEMU_NVRREG (34 + 16)
-        /* On ppc64, this mcontext structure is naturally *unaligned*,
-         * or rather it is aligned on a 8 bytes boundary but not on
-         * a 16 bytes one. This pad fixes it up. This is also why the
-         * vector regs are referenced by the v_regs pointer above so
-         * any amount of padding can be added here
-         */
-        target_ulong pad;
-#else
-        /* On ppc32, we are already aligned to 16 bytes */
-#define QEMU_NVRREG 33
-#endif
-        /* We cannot use ppc_avr_t here as we do *not* want the implied
-         * 16-bytes alignment that would result from it. This would have
-         * the effect of making the whole struct target_mcontext aligned
-         * which breaks the layout of struct target_ucontext on ppc64.
+        /*
+         * Altivec vector registers.  One extra for VRSAVE.
+         * On ppc32, we are already aligned to 16 bytes.  We could
+         * use ppc_avr_t, but choose to share the same type as ppc64.
          */
-        uint64_t altivec[QEMU_NVRREG][2];
-#undef QEMU_NVRREG
+        uint64_t altivec[33][2];
     } mc_vregs;
+#endif
 };
 
 /* See arch/powerpc/include/asm/sigcontext.h.  */
@@ -278,6 +274,7 @@ static void save_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env, struct target_mcontext *frame)
         __put_user((uint32_t)env->spr[SPR_VRSAVE], vrsave);
     }
 
+#if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     /* Save VSX second halves */
     if (env->insns_flags2 & PPC2_VSX) {
         uint64_t *vsregs = (uint64_t *)&frame->mc_vregs.altivec[34];
@@ -286,6 +283,7 @@ static void save_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env, struct target_mcontext *frame)
             __put_user(*vsrl, &vsregs[i]);
         }
     }
+#endif
 
     /* Save floating point registers.  */
     if (env->insns_flags & PPC_FLOAT) {
@@ -296,22 +294,18 @@ static void save_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env, struct target_mcontext *frame)
         __put_user((uint64_t) env->fpscr, &frame->mc_fregs[32]);
     }
 
+#if !defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     /* Save SPE registers.  The kernel only saves the high half.  */
     if (env->insns_flags & PPC_SPE) {
-#if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
-        for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(env->gpr); i++) {
-            __put_user(env->gpr[i] >> 32, &frame->mc_vregs.spe[i]);
-        }
-#else
         for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(env->gprh); i++) {
             __put_user(env->gprh[i], &frame->mc_vregs.spe[i]);
         }
-#endif
         /* Set MSR_SPE in the saved MSR value to indicate that
            frame->mc_vregs contains valid data.  */
         msr |= MSR_SPE;
         __put_user(env->spe_fscr, &frame->mc_vregs.spe[32]);
     }
+#endif
 
     /* Store MSR.  */
     __put_user(msr, &frame->mc_gregs[TARGET_PT_MSR]);
@@ -392,6 +386,7 @@ static void restore_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env,
         __get_user(env->spr[SPR_VRSAVE], vrsave);
     }
 
+#if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     /* Restore VSX second halves */
     if (env->insns_flags2 & PPC2_VSX) {
         uint64_t *vsregs = (uint64_t *)&frame->mc_vregs.altivec[34];
@@ -400,6 +395,7 @@ static void restore_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env,
             __get_user(*vsrl, &vsregs[i]);
         }
     }
+#endif
 
     /* Restore floating point registers.  */
     if (env->insns_flags & PPC_FLOAT) {
@@ -412,22 +408,15 @@ static void restore_user_regs(CPUPPCState *env,
         env->fpscr = (uint32_t) fpscr;
     }
 
+#if !defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     /* Save SPE registers.  The kernel only saves the high half.  */
     if (env->insns_flags & PPC_SPE) {
-#if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
-        for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(env->gpr); i++) {
-            uint32_t hi;
-
-            __get_user(hi, &frame->mc_vregs.spe[i]);
-            env->gpr[i] = ((uint64_t)hi << 32) | ((uint32_t) env->gpr[i]);
-        }
-#else
         for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(env->gprh); i++) {
             __get_user(env->gprh[i], &frame->mc_vregs.spe[i]);
         }
-#endif
         __get_user(env->spe_fscr, &frame->mc_vregs.spe[32]);
     }
+#endif
 }
 
 #if !defined(TARGET_PPC64)
