diff --git a/ares/ares_destroy.c b/ares/ares_destroy.c
index e9b1bfd07e0f47749203de3bd29d579199dfeb1c..4e99a89f5bbf5d976a067818498ab7b411ecd366 100644
--- a/ares/ares_destroy.c
+++ b/ares/ares_destroy.c
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ void ares_destroy(ares_channel channel)
   for (i = 0; i < channel->ndomains; i++)
     free(channel->domains[i]);
   free(channel->domains);
-  free(channel->sortlist);
+  if(channel->sortlist)
+    free(channel->sortlist);
   free(channel->lookups);
   while (channel->queries)
     {
diff --git a/ares/ares_expand_name.c b/ares/ares_expand_name.c
index 3c028158becb133ad85ff50b3c0e728b0071ce90..b242abf0f8d769c2dc340b542f06c56584d05070 100644
--- a/ares/ares_expand_name.c
+++ b/ares/ares_expand_name.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include "ares.h"
+#include "ares_private.h" /* for the memdebug */
 
 static int name_length(const unsigned char *encoded, const unsigned char *abuf,
 		       int alen);
diff --git a/ares/ares_free_hostent.c b/ares/ares_free_hostent.c
index 52de303fae3bed8a9aa3038a3f40929c0ca1225c..177dd768b440f619858b5d03db71a5e6418f2e50 100644
--- a/ares/ares_free_hostent.c
+++ b/ares/ares_free_hostent.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include "ares.h"
+#include "ares_private.h" /* for memdebug */
 
 void ares_free_hostent(struct hostent *host)
 {