diff -burN rsync-2.6.2.orig/options.c rsync-2.6.2/options.c
--- rsync-2.6.2.orig/options.c	2004-05-02 10:20:23.177074368 +0200
+++ rsync-2.6.2/options.c	2004-05-02 10:22:33.403276976 +0200
@@ -980,6 +980,8 @@
 {
 	char *p, *p2;
 
+	if (!s || !*s) 
+		return NULL;
 	p = strchr(s,':');
 	if (!p)
 		return NULL;