diff --git a/libattr/attr_copy_action.c b/libattr/attr_copy_action.c

index 0d7aca5..dc94224 100644

--- a/libattr/attr_copy_action.c

+++ b/libattr/attr_copy_action.c

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ free_attr_actions(void)

 static int

 attr_parse_attr_conf(struct error_context *ctx)

 {

-	char *text, *t;

+	char *text = NULL, *t;

 	size_t size_guess = 4096, len;

 	FILE *file;

 	char *pattern = NULL;

@@ -64,15 +64,16 @@ attr_parse_attr_conf(struct error_context *ctx)

 		return 0;

 repeat:

-	text = malloc(size_guess + 1);

-	if (!text)

-		goto fail;

-

 	if ((file = fopen(ATTR_CONF, "r")) == NULL) {

 		if (errno == ENOENT)

 			return 0;

 		goto fail;

 	}

+

+	text = malloc(size_guess + 1);

+	if (!text)

+		goto fail;

+

 	len = fread(text, 1, size_guess, file);

 	if (ferror(file))

 		goto fail;