diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d8e3563d9..4e110ca3a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2013-12-05  Colin Watson  <cjwatson@ubuntu.com>
+
+	* grub-core/osdep/linux/hostdisk.c
+	(grub_util_find_partition_start_os): Initialise start to avoid
+	spurious compiler warning.
+
 2013-12-05  Colin Watson  <cjwatson@ubuntu.com>
 
 	On Linux, read partition start offsets from sysfs if possible, to
diff --git a/grub-core/osdep/linux/hostdisk.c b/grub-core/osdep/linux/hostdisk.c
index 74d87a43c..abaaf2847 100644
--- a/grub-core/osdep/linux/hostdisk.c
+++ b/grub-core/osdep/linux/hostdisk.c
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ out:
 grub_disk_addr_t
 grub_util_find_partition_start_os (const char *dev)
 {
-  grub_disk_addr_t start;
+  grub_disk_addr_t start = 0;
   grub_util_fd_t fd;
   struct hd_geometry hdg;