--- desktop-file-utils-0.9/src/eggdesktopentries.c.nogroup	2004-10-18 14:10:48.527841168 +0200
+++ desktop-file-utils-0.9/src/eggdesktopentries.c	2004-10-18 14:19:33.102093760 +0200
@@ -884,6 +884,15 @@
   gchar *key, *value, *key_end, *value_start, *locale;
   gsize key_len, value_len;
 
+  if (entries->current_group->name == NULL)
+    {
+      g_set_error (error, EGG_DESKTOP_ENTRIES_ERROR,
+		   EGG_DESKTOP_ENTRIES_ERROR_BAD_START_GROUP,
+		   _("desktop entry file does not start with "
+		     "legal start group"));
+      return;
+    }
+
   key_end = value_start = strchr (line, '=');
 
   g_assert (key_end != NULL);