diff --git a/usr.bin/calendar/io.c b/usr.bin/calendar/io.c
index e5a0a086e393..49bfa5329986 100644
--- a/usr.bin/calendar/io.c
+++ b/usr.bin/calendar/io.c
@@ -337,7 +337,10 @@ opencal(void)
 		    if (!freopen(calendarFile, "r", stdin))
 		        return (NULL);
 		} else {
-		        chdir(getenv("HOME"));
+			char *home = getenv("HOME");
+			if (home == NULL || *home == '\0')
+				errx(1, "cannot get home directory");
+			chdir(home);
 			for (found = i = 0; i < sizeof(calendarHomes) /
 			    sizeof(calendarHomes[0]); i++)
 			    if (chdir(calendarHomes[i]) == 0 &&
diff --git a/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.c b/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.c
index 23f224047b1f..2172735aec17 100644
--- a/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.c
+++ b/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.c
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	int blast = 0;
 	struct stat buf;		/* stat to check access of bounds */
 	FILE *bounds;
+	char *cp;
 
 #ifdef UNBUFFERED
 	setbuf(stdout, NULL);
@@ -286,7 +287,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		lastmsg = 0;
 
 		for (dp = readdir(dirp); dp != NULL; dp = readdir(dirp)){
-			char *cp = dp->d_name;
+			cp = dp->d_name;
 			int i = 0;
 
 			if (dp->d_ino == 0)
@@ -402,7 +403,11 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	totty = (isatty(fileno(stdout)) != 0);
 	use_pager = use_pager && totty;
 
-	snprintf(fname, sizeof(fname), "%s/%s", getenv("HOME"), MSGSRC);
+	if ((cp = getenv("HOME")) == NULL || *cp == '\0') {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error, no home directory!\n");
+		exit(1);
+	}
+	snprintf(fname, sizeof(fname), "%s/%s", cp, MSGSRC);
 	msgsrc = fopen(fname, "r");
 	if (msgsrc) {
 		newrc = NO;