diff --git a/libjava/ChangeLog b/libjava/ChangeLog
index 7ff9c1c26fc..c767dfb6df9 100644
--- a/libjava/ChangeLog
+++ b/libjava/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2000-02-20  Tom Tromey  <tromey@cygnus.com>
+
+	* boehm.cc (_Jv_AllocBytes): Clear returned memory.
+
 2000-02-19  Bryce McKinlay  <bryce@albatross.co.nz>
 
 	* java/util/zip/ZipEntry.java (setCrc): Fix overflow.
diff --git a/libjava/boehm.cc b/libjava/boehm.cc
index 2c50c5cc0f0..ccfe9ee16c4 100644
--- a/libjava/boehm.cc
+++ b/libjava/boehm.cc
@@ -321,7 +321,14 @@ _Jv_AllocArray (jsize size)
 void *
 _Jv_AllocBytes (jsize size)
 {
-  return GC_GENERIC_MALLOC (size, PTRFREE);
+  void *r = GC_GENERIC_MALLOC (size, PTRFREE);
+  // We have to explicitly zero memory here, as the GC doesn't
+  // guarantee that PTRFREE allocations are zeroed.  Note that we
+  // don't have to do this for other allocation types because we set
+  // the `ok_init' flag in the type descriptor.
+  if (r != NULL)
+    memset (r, 0, size);
+  return r;
 }
 
 static void