diff -up nss_ldap-253/ldap-nss.c.padl418 nss_ldap-253/ldap-nss.c
--- nss_ldap-253/ldap-nss.c.padl418	2010-11-17 14:08:24.000000000 +0000
+++ nss_ldap-253/ldap-nss.c	2010-11-18 00:34:22.000000000 +0000
@@ -1272,9 +1272,14 @@ do_init (void)
 	}
     }
 
-  __session.ls_conn = NULL;
+  /* looks like a problem. could be initialized, but not connected */
+  if (__session.ls_state != LS_UNINITIALIZED)
+    {
+      debug ("<== do_init (already initialized)");
+      goto initialized;
+    }
+
   __session.ls_timestamp = 0;
-  __session.ls_state = LS_UNINITIALIZED;
 
 #if defined(HAVE_PTHREAD_ONCE) && defined(HAVE_PTHREAD_ATFORK)
   if (pthread_once (&__once, do_atfork_setup) != 0)
@@ -1394,6 +1399,7 @@ do_init (void)
 
   debug ("<== do_init (initialized session)");
 
+initialized:
   return NSS_SUCCESS;
 }
 
@@ -1614,6 +1620,7 @@ do_open (void)
 	}
       else
 	{
+	  syslog(LOG_ERR, "nss-ldap: do_open: do_start_tls failed:stat=%d", stat);
 	  do_close ();
 	  debug ("<== do_open (TLS startup failed)");
 	  return stat;