diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index de061940d..6186ee5ba 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2012-01-24  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
+
+	* Source/NSURLRequest.m: be tolerant about missing URL on init.
+
 2012-01-10  Richard Frith-Macdonald <rfm@gnu.org>
 
 	* Source/GSFFIInvocation.m: Fix selector types comparison to use the
diff --git a/Source/NSURLRequest.m b/Source/NSURLRequest.m
index b3102eb6f..72034d9af 100644
--- a/Source/NSURLRequest.m
+++ b/Source/NSURLRequest.m
@@ -188,9 +188,9 @@ typedef struct {
 {
   if ([URL isKindOfClass: [NSURL class]] == NO)
     {
-      DESTROY(self);
+      URL = nil;
     }
-  else if ((self = [super init]) != nil)
+  if ((self = [super init]) != nil)
     {
       this->URL = RETAIN(URL);
       this->cachePolicy = cachePolicy;