diff --git a/parse.c b/parse.c
index b570399..abef361 100644
--- a/parse.c
+++ b/parse.c
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ parse_deplist(pkg_t *pkg, const char *depends)
 	char *start = buf;
 	char *ptr = buf;
 	char *vstart = NULL;
-	char *package, *version;
+	char *package = NULL, *version = NULL;
 
 	strlcpy(buf, kvdepends, sizeof buf);
 	strlcat(buf, " ", sizeof buf);