diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ca555a662..42e059d46 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2010-12-21  Colin Watson  <cjwatson@ubuntu.com>
+
+	* grub-core/fs/udf.c (read_string): Pacify GCC warning by
+	initialising utf16.
+
 2010-12-21  Colin Watson  <cjwatson@ubuntu.com>
 
 	* util/grub-mkconfig_lib.in (gettext_quoted): Add clarifying
diff --git a/grub-core/fs/udf.c b/grub-core/fs/udf.c
index 51726edf3..1672aab1b 100644
--- a/grub-core/fs/udf.c
+++ b/grub-core/fs/udf.c
@@ -791,7 +791,7 @@ fail:
 static char *
 read_string (grub_uint8_t *raw, grub_size_t sz)
 {
-  grub_uint16_t *utf16;
+  grub_uint16_t *utf16 = NULL;
   char *ret;
   grub_size_t utf16len = 0;