It is a regression from:
http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2007-03/msg00290.html
http://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-cvs/2007-03/msg00114.html

Without started inferior the only target in the stack is `exec' which has no
hardware-watchpoints support for sure.

--- /dev/null	2008-11-16 09:11:50.595000000 +0100
+++ gdb-6.8/gdb/config/ia64/nm-linux.h	2008-11-18 11:00:34.000000000 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/* Native support for GNU/Linux, for GDB, the GNU debugger.
+
+   Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+   Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+   Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.  */
+
+#ifndef NM_LINUX_H
+#define NM_LINUX_H
+
+#include "config/nm-linux.h"
+
+/* Hardware watchpoints */
+
+#define TARGET_CAN_USE_HARDWARE_WATCHPOINT(type, cnt, ot) 1
+
+#endif /* #ifndef NM_LINUX_H */
--- gdb-6.8/gdb/config/ia64/linux.mh-orig	2007-04-26 00:17:48.000000000 +0200
+++ gdb-6.8/gdb/config/ia64/linux.mh	2008-11-18 11:09:33.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Host: Intel IA-64 running GNU/Linux
 
-NAT_FILE= config/nm-linux.h
+NAT_FILE= nm-linux.h
 NATDEPFILES= inf-ptrace.o fork-child.o corelow.o gcore.o \
 	core-regset.o ia64-linux-nat.o \
 	proc-service.o linux-thread-db.o linux-nat.o linux-fork.o
--- /dev/null	2008-11-16 09:11:50.595000000 +0100
+++ gdb-6.8/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/hw-watchpoint-available.exp	2008-11-18 11:28:40.000000000 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Copyright 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+if {![istarget "i?86-*-*"] && ![istarget "x86_64-*-*"] && ![istarget "ia64-*-*"]
+    && ![istarget "s390*-*-*"]} then {
+    verbose "Skipping hw-watchpoint-available test."
+    return
+}
+
+set testfile hw-watchpoint-available
+set srcfile ${testfile}.c
+set binfile ${objdir}/${subdir}/${testfile}
+if  { [gdb_compile "${srcdir}/${subdir}/${srcfile}" "${binfile}" executable {debug}] != "" } {
+    untested "Couldn't compile test program"
+    return -1
+}
+
+gdb_exit
+gdb_start
+gdb_reinitialize_dir $srcdir/$subdir
+gdb_load ${binfile}
+
+gdb_test "watch watchee" "Hardware watchpoint 1: watchee"
--- /dev/null	2008-11-16 09:11:50.595000000 +0100
+++ gdb-6.8/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/hw-watchpoint-available.c	2008-11-18 11:24:38.000000000 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/* This testcase is part of GDB, the GNU debugger.
+
+   Copyright 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+   Please email any bugs, comments, and/or additions to this file to:
+   bug-gdb@prep.ai.mit.edu  */
+
+int watchee;
+
+int
+main (void)
+{
+  return 0;
+}