diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index db1ac681d..25228940c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2003-07-03  Peter Stephenson  <pws@csr.com>
+
+	* 18769: Src/exec.c: parse error in autoloading file causes
+	return value zero and empty function definition.  Presumed
+	to be error introduced with wordcode.
+
 2003-06-25  Oliver Kiddle  <opk@zsh.org>
 
 	* 18634: Tomi Vainio: Src/system.h: work around problem with
diff --git a/Src/exec.c b/Src/exec.c
index bcd0e93bb..ad992e23e 100644
--- a/Src/exec.c
+++ b/Src/exec.c
@@ -3339,7 +3339,7 @@ loadautofn(Shfunc shf, int fksh, int autol)
 	return NULL;
     }
     if (!prog)
-	prog = &dummy_eprog;
+	return NULL;
     if (ksh == 2 || (ksh == 1 && isset(KSHAUTOLOAD))) {
 	if (autol) {
 	    prog->flags |= EF_RUN;