--- xpath.c
+++ xpath.c
@@ -14529,7 +14529,7 @@
 	}
 
 	stream = xmlPatterncompile(str, dict, XML_PATTERN_XPATH,
-			&namespaces[0]);
+			namespaces); // i.e., &namespaces[0] if namespaces != NULL
 	if (namespaces != NULL) {
 	    xmlFree((xmlChar **)namespaces);
 	}