diff --git a/mach/proto/ncg/gencode.c b/mach/proto/ncg/gencode.c
index c103c8844..c33f492ec 100644
--- a/mach/proto/ncg/gencode.c
+++ b/mach/proto/ncg/gencode.c
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ out_finish() {
 		fflush(stderr);
 	else
 #endif
-		fclose(codefile);
+		if (codefile) fclose(codefile);
 #ifdef TABLEDEBUG
 	termlset();
 #endif