diff --git a/g10/ChangeLog b/g10/ChangeLog
index fd5b3c367..c1b0085ed 100644
--- a/g10/ChangeLog
+++ b/g10/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2009-06-17  Werner Koch  <wk@g10code.com>
+
+	* parse-packet.c (parse): Use a casted -1 instead of a 32 bit
+	constant to check for a garbled package.  Fixes bug#1040.
+
 2009-06-05  David Shaw  <dshaw@jabberwocky.com>
 
 	* gpg.c (main): Remove Camellia restriction.
diff --git a/g10/parse-packet.c b/g10/parse-packet.c
index c614ca264..60ca8af72 100644
--- a/g10/parse-packet.c
+++ b/g10/parse-packet.c
@@ -441,8 +441,8 @@ parse( IOBUF inp, PACKET *pkt, int onlykeypkts, off_t *retpos,
 	  }
       }
 
-    if (pktlen == 0xffffffff) {
-        /* with a some probability this is caused by a problem in the
+    if (pktlen == (unsigned long)(-1)) {
+        /* With some probability this is caused by a problem in the
          * the uncompressing layer - in some error cases it just loops
          * and spits out 0xff bytes. */
         log_error ("%s: garbled packet detected\n", iobuf_where(inp) );