diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e493145554..941f2636c0 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2004-01-01  Derek Atkins  <derek@ihtfp.com>
+
+	* src/engine/qofinstance.c: return a "valid" GUID even if passed a NULL
+	  object, because lots of code assumes you can get a guid all the time.
+	  So, just return guid_null() instead of NULL.  Fixes a SEGV.
+
 2003-12-23  Christian Stimming  <stimming@tuhh.de>
 
 	* src/engine/gnc-trace.c: Patch enabling compilation on Mac OS X
diff --git a/src/engine/qofinstance.c b/src/engine/qofinstance.c
index 26c69e61a4..d192221c70 100644
--- a/src/engine/qofinstance.c
+++ b/src/engine/qofinstance.c
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ qof_instance_release (QofInstance *inst)
 const GUID *
 qof_instance_get_guid (QofInstance *inst)
 {
-   if (!inst) return NULL;
+   if (!inst) return guid_null(); /* some callers depend on a real return value */
    return &inst->entity.guid;
 }