diff --git a/util.c b/util.c

index 6c68ad8..713e637 100644

--- a/util.c

+++ b/util.c

@@ -493,10 +493,13 @@ _rl_trace (va_alist)

   if (_rl_tracefp == 0)

     _rl_tropen ();

+  if (!_rl_tracefp)

+    goto out;

   vfprintf (_rl_tracefp, format, args);

   fprintf (_rl_tracefp, "\n");

   fflush (_rl_tracefp);

+out:

   va_end (args);

 }

@@ -509,16 +512,17 @@ _rl_tropen ()

     fclose (_rl_tracefp);

   sprintf (fnbuf, "/var/tmp/rltrace.%ld", getpid());

   unlink(fnbuf);

-  _rl_tracefp = fopen (fnbuf, "w+");

+  _rl_tracefp = fopen (fnbuf, "w+xe");

   return _rl_tracefp != 0;

 }

 int

 _rl_trclose ()

 {

-  int r;

+  int r = 0;

-  r = fclose (_rl_tracefp);

+  if (_rl_tracefp)

+    r = fclose (_rl_tracefp);

   _rl_tracefp = 0;

   return r;

 }