diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 25d7ba8f4..a1e680c52 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2002-10-01 02:21  Alexander Malmberg <alexander@malmberg.org>
+
+	* Source/NSUserDefaults.m (-synchronize): Handle lockDate being nil.
+
 2002-09-30  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
 
 	* NSTimeZones/NSTimeZones.tar: Updated to latest information.
diff --git a/Source/NSUserDefaults.m b/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
index 18389d9a4..eeacf93fe 100644
--- a/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
+++ b/Source/NSUserDefaults.m
@@ -1184,10 +1184,18 @@ static NSString	*pathForUser(NSString *user)
   while ([_fileLock tryLock] == NO)
     {
       CREATE_AUTORELEASE_POOL(arp);
-      NSDate	*when;
+      NSDate	*when, *lockDate;
 
+      lockDate = [_fileLock lockDate];
+      /* If the lock has already been released, lockDate will be nil. If
+      so, just try again. */
+      if (!lockDate)
+	{
+	  RELEASE(arp);
+	  continue;
+	}
       when = [NSDate dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow: 0.1];
-      if ([when timeIntervalSinceDate: [_fileLock lockDate]] > 5.0)
+      if ([when timeIntervalSinceDate: lockDate] > 5.0)
 	{
 	  [_fileLock breakLock];
 	}