diff --git a/libutil/getlines.c b/libutil/getlines.c
index 3a4d0f4..9842d2b 100644
--- a/libutil/getlines.c
+++ b/libutil/getlines.c
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ void
 getlines(FILE *fp, struct linebuf *b)
 {
 	char *line = NULL;
-	size_t size = 0, linelen;
+	size_t size = 0, linelen = 0;
 	ssize_t len;
 
 	while ((len = getline(&line, &size, fp)) > 0) {
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ getlines(FILE *fp, struct linebuf *b)
 		b->lines[b->nlines - 1] = memcpy(emalloc(linelen + 1), line, linelen + 1);
 	}
 	free(line);
-	if (b->lines && b->nlines && b->lines[b->nlines - 1][linelen - 1] != '\n') {
+	if (b->lines && b->nlines && linelen && b->lines[b->nlines - 1][linelen - 1] != '\n') {
 		b->lines[b->nlines - 1] = erealloc(b->lines[b->nlines - 1], linelen + 2);
 		b->lines[b->nlines - 1][linelen] = '\n';
 		b->lines[b->nlines - 1][linelen + 1] = '\0';