diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 12715f5ce0..5675b082f1 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Mon Mar 2 10:16:04 +0100 2009 Jim Meyering <meyering@redhat.com>
+
+	don't dereference uninitialized pointer
+	* src/storage_conf.c (virStoragePoolDefParsePerms): Initialize
+	"ptr" to NULL.
+
 Fri Feb 27 17:15:00 CET 2009 Chris Lalancette <clalance@redhat.com>
 
 	* src/qemu_driver.c: If there is a failure during offline migrate,
diff --git a/src/storage_conf.c b/src/storage_conf.c
index 70107a287a..4a53ff49b5 100644
--- a/src/storage_conf.c
+++ b/src/storage_conf.c
@@ -381,7 +381,7 @@ virStoragePoolDefParsePerms(virConnectPtr conn,
     if (!mode) {
         perms->mode = 0700;
     } else {
-        char *end;
+        char *end = NULL;
         perms->mode = strtol(mode, &end, 8);
         if (*end || perms->mode < 0 || perms->mode > 0777) {
             virStorageReportError(conn, VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR,