diff --git a/libjava/ChangeLog b/libjava/ChangeLog
index 3dcb93016e4..68b32b125bc 100644
--- a/libjava/ChangeLog
+++ b/libjava/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2003-11-18  Tom Tromey  <tromey@redhat.com>
+
+	* jni.cc (_Jv_JNI_GetStringUTFChars): Fail gracefully if string
+	is null.
+
 2003-11-17  Graydon Hoare  <graydon@redhat.com>
 
 	* javax/swing/plaf/basic/BasicDefaults.java: Rewrite to spec.
diff --git a/libjava/jni.cc b/libjava/jni.cc
index d311f60ff1c..007aabc4008 100644
--- a/libjava/jni.cc
+++ b/libjava/jni.cc
@@ -1298,10 +1298,12 @@ static const char *
 (JNICALL _Jv_JNI_GetStringUTFChars) (JNIEnv *env, jstring string, 
                                      jboolean *isCopy)
 {
-  string = unwrap (string);
-  jsize len = JvGetStringUTFLength (string);
   try
     {
+      string = unwrap (string);
+      if (string == NULL)
+	return NULL;
+      jsize len = JvGetStringUTFLength (string);
       char *r = (char *) _Jv_Malloc (len + 1);
       JvGetStringUTFRegion (string, 0, string->length(), r);
       r[len] = '\0';