diff --git a/gnu/getopt/Getopt.java b/gnu/getopt/Getopt.java
index 429301b..04ae13a 100644
--- a/gnu/getopt/Getopt.java
+++ b/gnu/getopt/Getopt.java
@@ -1228,7 +1228,8 @@ else if (optind == argv.length)
           optarg  = argv[optind];
         }
 
-      c = checkLongOption();
+      if (long_options != null)
+        c = checkLongOption();
 
       if (longopt_handled)
         return(c);