diff --git a/src/ldso/dynlink.c b/src/ldso/dynlink.c
index eac07d9c5425066b559ff902056b17d43c49c5fe..d19747369331ba6b0bbf1bc597cb9930e75611e1 100644
--- a/src/ldso/dynlink.c
+++ b/src/ldso/dynlink.c
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ static struct dso *load_library(const char *name)
 				FILE *f = fopen(ETC_LDSO_PATH, "rbe");
 				if (f) {
 					if (getdelim(&sys_path, (size_t[1]){0}, 0, f) <= 0) {
-						if (sys_path) free(sys_path);
+						free(sys_path);
 						sys_path = "";
 					}
 					fclose(f);