this is what i ended up committing then.  thanks guys.
-mike

2010-04-21  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>

	* gdb/sparc-tdep.c (sparc32_store_return_value): Add gdb_assert ()
	for len <= 8.

Index: gdb/sparc-tdep.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/src/gdb/sparc-tdep.c,v
retrieving revision 1.211
diff -u -p -r1.211 sparc-tdep.c
--- gdb/sparc-tdep.c	1 Jan 2010 07:31:42 -0000	1.211
+++ gdb/sparc-tdep.c	21 Apr 2010 20:10:16 -0000
@@ -1105,6 +1105,7 @@ sparc32_store_return_value (struct type 
 
   gdb_assert (!sparc_structure_or_union_p (type));
   gdb_assert (!(sparc_floating_p (type) && len == 16));
+  gdb_assert (len <= 8);
 
   if (sparc_floating_p (type))
     {