diff --git a/src/getopt_long.c b/src/getopt_long.c
index 260a78c..a64d721 100644
--- a/src/getopt_long.c
+++ b/src/getopt_long.c
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@
 int	opterr = 1;		/* if error message should be printed */
 int	optind = 1;		/* index into parent argv vector */
 int	optopt = '?';		/* character checked for validity */
-int	optreset;		/* reset getopt */
-char    *optarg;		/* argument associated with option */
+/* initialize these two too to avoid symbol clashes from system libc: */
+int	optreset = 0;		/* reset getopt */
+char   *optarg = NULL;		/* argument associated with option */
 
 #define PRINT_ERROR	((opterr) && (*options != ':'))