diff --git a/src/sharedspice.c b/src/sharedspice.c
index 673c92e70..8b36f2fb3 100644
--- a/src/sharedspice.c
+++ b/src/sharedspice.c
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ int
 ngSpice_Init(SendChar* printfcn, SendStat* statusfcn, ControlledExit* ngspiceexit,
              SendData* sdata, SendInitData* sinitdata, BGThreadRunning* bgtrun, void* userData)
 {
-    sighandler old_sigsegv;
+    sighandler old_sigsegv = NULL;
 
     pfcn = printfcn;
     /* if caller sends NULL, don't send printf strings */