diff --git a/sim/common/ChangeLog b/sim/common/ChangeLog
index b6805db5e2..821248d123 100644
--- a/sim/common/ChangeLog
+++ b/sim/common/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2011-05-27  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
+
+	* sim-options.c (standard_option_handler): Remove arg[0] check
+	when freeing simulator_sysroot.  Only strdup arg when arg[0] is
+	not an empty string, otherwise assign "" back to it.
+
 2011-05-26  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
 
 	* nltvals.def: Regenerate to include Blackfin syscalls again.
diff --git a/sim/common/sim-options.c b/sim/common/sim-options.c
index ddab83dbee..1a0c541249 100644
--- a/sim/common/sim-options.c
+++ b/sim/common/sim-options.c
@@ -458,10 +458,14 @@ standard_option_handler (SIM_DESC sd, sim_cpu *cpu, int opt,
 
     case OPTION_SYSROOT:
       /* Don't leak memory in the odd event that there's lots of
-	 --sysroot=... options.  */
-      if (simulator_sysroot[0] != '\0' && arg[0] != '\0')
+	 --sysroot=... options.  We treat "" specially since this
+	 is the statically initialized value and cannot free it.  */
+      if (simulator_sysroot[0] != '\0')
 	free (simulator_sysroot);
-      simulator_sysroot = xstrdup (arg);
+      if (arg[0] != '\0')
+	simulator_sysroot = xstrdup (arg);
+      else
+	simulator_sysroot = "";
       break;
     }