diff --git a/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c b/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
index 1589c83dcec72a4354e5fbe2ab761e2553f5282d..69922388117580f2393156b69c92c699fb49cbc0 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c,v 1.16 1997/11/07 20:51:58 momjian Exp $
+ *	  $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/src/backend/utils/init/postinit.c,v 1.17 1997/11/10 15:15:40 thomas Exp $
  *
  * NOTES
  *		InitPostgres() is the function called from PostgresMain
@@ -168,6 +168,8 @@ VerifySystemDatabase()
 	int			fd;
 	char		errormsg[1000];
 
+	errormsg[0] = '\0';
+
 	if ((fd = open(DataDir, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
 		sprintf(errormsg, "Database system does not exist.  "
 				"PGDATA directory '%s' not found.\n\tNormally, you "