--- src/tail.c.orig	Sun Sep 30 21:26:52 2001
+++ src/tail.c	Tue Nov 13 18:34:06 2001
@@ -1088,9 +1088,9 @@
 	 file_lines.  file_lines shouldn't presume that the input
 	 file pointer is initially positioned to beginning of file.  */
       if (S_ISREG (stats.st_mode)
-	  && lseek (fd, (off_t) 0, SEEK_CUR) == (off_t) 0)
+	  && lseek (fd, (off_t) 0, SEEK_CUR) == (off_t) 0
+	  && (length = lseek (fd, (off_t) 0, SEEK_END)) >= 0)
 	{
-	  length = lseek (fd, (off_t) 0, SEEK_END);
 	  if (length != 0 && file_lines (pretty_filename, fd, n_lines, length))
 	    return 1;
 	}