Binutils 2.39 on NetBSD-current

main.s

        .text
        .globl  main
        .type   main, @function
main:
        ret

Makefile

gnu-stack: merged.o
	cc -o $@ merged.o
	@{ readelf -e $@ | grep -A1 GNU_STACK; } || echo "  $@ has no .note.GNU-stack"

merged.o: main.o sub.o sub2.o
	ld -r -o $@ main.o sub.o sub2.o
	@{ readelf -e $@ | grep -A1 GNU-stack; } || echo "  $@ has no .note.GNU-stack"

.s.o:
	cc -o $@ -c $<
	@{ readelf -e $@ | grep -A1 GNU-stack; } || echo "  $@ has no .note.GNU-stack"

.c.o:
	cc -o $@ -c $<
	@{ readelf -e $@ | grep -A1 GNU-stack; } || echo "  $@ has no .note.GNU-stack"

.PHONY: clean
clean:
	rm -f *.o gnu-stack

result

% make
cc -o main.o -c main.s
  main.o has no .note.GNU-stack
cc -o sub.o -c sub.s
  [ 4] .note.GNU-stack   PROGBITS         0000000000000000  00000041
       0000000000000000  0000000000000000           0     0     1
cc -o sub2.o -c sub2.c
  sub2.o has no .note.GNU-stack
ld -r -o merged.o main.o sub.o sub2.o
ld: warning: sub2.o: missing .note.GNU-stack section implies executable stack
ld: NOTE: This behaviour is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of the linker
  [ 7] .note.GNU-stack   PROGBITS         0000000000000000  000000a4
       0000000000000000  0000000000000000   X       0     0     1
cc -o gnu-stack merged.o
ld: warning: merged.o: requires executable stack (because the .note.GNU-stack section is executable)
  GNU_STACK      0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000
                 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000  RWE    0x10

sub.s

        .text
        .globl  sub
        .type   sub, @function
sub:
        ret

        .section .note.GNU-stack,"",@progbits

sub2.c

void sub2() {}