diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fe58b0023..d8ff56047 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-2009-10-04 Holger Vogt
+2009-10-12 Holger Vogt
  * main.c: bug no. 2874418, initialize global variable history_file
 
 2009-10-10 Robert Larice
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 8b9fa25c5..2dec1b37c 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ extern int rl_catch_signals;        /* missing from editline/readline.h */
 
 
 #if defined(HAVE_GNUREADLINE) || defined(HAVE_BSDEDITLINE)
-char history_file[512];
+char history_file[512] = {'\0'};
 static char *application_name;
 #endif  /* HAVE_GNUREADLINE || HAVE_BSDEDITLINE */