diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index d824b9454..462cfdddd 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Bodo Moeller		   Bodo_Moeller@public.uni-hamburg.de
 Brendan O'Dea              bod@debian.org
 Brenno de Winter	   brenno@dewinter.com
 Brian Gladman              brg@gladman.plus.com
+Brian Greenberg            grnbrg@cc.umanitoba.ca
 Brian M. Carlson           karlsson@hal-pc.org
 Brian Moore		   bem@cmc.net
 Brian Warner		   warner@lothar.com
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 2d6ceafd2..6bb36b092 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@
 
   * See po/ca.po for remarks on the used strings. 
 
+  * Write a test to check the correct behaviour of creating new
+    keyrings, copying the opion files and creating the home directory.
+
 
 Things we won't do
 ------------------
diff --git a/g10/ChangeLog b/g10/ChangeLog
index 10885f227..729479d8b 100644
--- a/g10/ChangeLog
+++ b/g10/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2004-08-31  Werner Koch  <wk@g10code.de>
+
+	* keydb.c (maybe_create_keyring): Try to create the home directory
+	before acquiring a lock for the keyring.
+
 2004-08-20  David Shaw  <dshaw@jabberwocky.com>
 
 	* hkp.c (dehtmlize): Understand the quote character
diff --git a/g10/keydb.c b/g10/keydb.c
index 96c37b4d9..5aa57613c 100644
--- a/g10/keydb.c
+++ b/g10/keydb.c
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ static void unlock_all (KEYDB_HANDLE hd);
 static int
 maybe_create_keyring (char *filename, int force)
 {
-  DOTLOCK lockhd;
+  DOTLOCK lockhd = NULL;
   IOBUF iobuf;
   int rc;
   mode_t oldmask;
@@ -91,6 +91,32 @@ maybe_create_keyring (char *filename, int force)
   if (!force) 
     return G10ERR_OPEN_FILE;
 
+  /* First of all we try to create the home directory.  Note, that we
+     don't do any locking here because any sane application of gpg
+     would create the home directory by itself and not rely on gpg's
+     tricky auto-creation which is anyway only done for some home
+     directory name patterns. */
+  last_slash_in_filename = strrchr (filename, DIRSEP_C);
+  *last_slash_in_filename = 0;
+  if (access(filename, F_OK))
+    { 
+      static int tried;
+      
+      if (!tried)
+        {
+          tried = 1;
+          try_make_homedir (filename);
+        }
+      if (access (filename, F_OK))
+        {
+          rc = G10ERR_OPEN_FILE;
+          *last_slash_in_filename = DIRSEP_C;
+          goto leave;
+        }
+    }
+  *last_slash_in_filename = DIRSEP_C;
+
+
   /* To avoid races with other instances of gpg trying to create or
      update the keyring (it is removed during an update for a short
      time), we do the next stuff in a locked state. */
@@ -126,28 +152,6 @@ maybe_create_keyring (char *filename, int force)
     }
 
   /* The file does not yet exist, create it now. */
-
-  last_slash_in_filename = strrchr (filename, DIRSEP_C);
-  *last_slash_in_filename = 0;
-  if (access(filename, F_OK))
-    { /* On the first time we try to create the default
-         homedir and check again. */
-      static int tried;
-      
-      if (!tried)
-        {
-          tried = 1;
-          try_make_homedir (filename);
-        }
-      if (access (filename, F_OK))
-        {
-          rc = G10ERR_OPEN_FILE;
-          *last_slash_in_filename = DIRSEP_C;
-          goto leave;
-        }
-    }
-  *last_slash_in_filename = DIRSEP_C;
-
   oldmask = umask (077);
   iobuf = iobuf_create (filename);
   umask (oldmask);
@@ -168,8 +172,11 @@ maybe_create_keyring (char *filename, int force)
   rc = 0;
 
  leave:
-  release_dotlock (lockhd);
-  destroy_dotlock (lockhd);
+  if (lockhd)
+    {
+      release_dotlock (lockhd);
+      destroy_dotlock (lockhd);
+    }
   return rc;
 }