diff --git a/lib/getenv.c b/lib/getenv.c
index 475c3d3ca5897a82e296d109d3b918d5e0186f46..ca88234fa50758d1cd5e07ff8595ed89b2dcc0f1 100644
--- a/lib/getenv.c
+++ b/lib/getenv.c
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ char *GetEnv(const char *variable)
   if (env && strcmp("HOME",variable) == 0)
     env = decc$translate_vms(env);
 #endif
-  return env?strdup(env):NULL;
+  return (env && env[0])?strdup(env):NULL;
 #endif
 #endif
 }