diff -ur globus_gfork-0.2.orig/globus_gfork_server.c globus_gfork-0.2/globus_gfork_server.c
--- globus_gfork-0.2.orig/globus_gfork_server.c	2008-10-02 17:01:41.000000000 +0200
+++ globus_gfork-0.2/globus_gfork_server.c	2009-10-19 22:04:30.006108522 +0200
@@ -1551,7 +1551,8 @@
     if(gfork_l_options.conf_file == NULL)
     {
         gfork_l_options.conf_file = globus_common_create_string(
-            "%s/etc/gfork.conf", globus_libc_getenv("GLOBUS_LOCATION"));
+            "%s/etc/gfork.conf", globus_libc_getenv("GLOBUS_LOCATION") ?
+                                 globus_libc_getenv("GLOBUS_LOCATION") : "");
     }
     result = globus_options_xinetd_file_process(
         opt_h, gfork_l_options.conf_file, "gridftp");