diff --git a/src/gui-sdl/gui-sdl.c b/src/gui-sdl/gui-sdl.c
index ccb9acd..4963e77 100644
--- a/src/gui-sdl/gui-sdl.c
+++ b/src/gui-sdl/gui-sdl.c
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ void gui_display(int shortcut)
 
 	if (prefs_has_changed)
 	{
-		char user_options[255];
+		char user_options[255] = "";
 #ifdef OPTIONS_IN_HOME
 		char *home = getenv ("HOME");
 		if (home != NULL && strlen (home) < 240)
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 64ca4ff..a827d8e 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ static void parse_cmdline_and_init_file (int argc, char **argv)
     /* FIXME! ska: This is temporary, and will be removed when you can
      * pass command line options in meta.xml for the homebrew channel */
 	{
-		char user_options[255];
+		char user_options[255] = "";
 		char *user_argv[] = {"program", "-f", user_options};
 #ifdef OPTIONS_IN_HOME
 		char *home = getenv ("HOME");