diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm.h b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm.h
index acae03dc8d..8f0ae91fc7 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm.h
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm.h
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ int mca_sharedfp_sm_iwrite (mca_io_ompio_file_t *fh,
                                     int count,
                                     struct ompi_datatype_t *datatype,
                                     ompi_request_t **request);
-
 /*--------------------------------------------------------------*
  *Structures and definitions only for this component
  *--------------------------------------------------------------*/
@@ -105,7 +104,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_sm_iwrite (mca_io_ompio_file_t *fh,
 struct sm_offset{
     sem_t mutex; /* the mutex: a Posix memory-based semaphore */
     long long offset; /* and the shared file pointer offset */
-} sm_offset;
+};
 
 /*This structure will hang off of the mca_sharedfp_base_data_t's
  *selected_module_data attribute
diff --git a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm_file_open.c b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm_file_open.c
index 932d30fdd7..aa6937bc8f 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm_file_open.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/sharedfp/sm/sharedfp_sm_file_open.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 
 #include <semaphore.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
+
 
 int mca_sharedfp_sm_file_open (struct ompi_communicator_t *comm,
                                char* filename,
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ int mca_sharedfp_sm_file_open (struct ompi_communicator_t *comm,
     char * filename_basename;
     char * sm_filename;
     struct sm_offset * sm_offset_ptr;
+    struct sm_offset sm_offset;
     int sm_fd;
     int rank;
 
@@ -123,7 +126,8 @@ int mca_sharedfp_sm_file_open (struct ompi_communicator_t *comm,
     
     /*TODO: is it necessary to write to the file first?*/
     if( 0 == rank ){
-	write(sm_fd, &sm_offset, sizeof(struct sm_offset));
+	memset ( &sm_offset, 0, sizeof (struct sm_offset ));
+	write ( sm_fd, &sm_offset, sizeof(struct sm_offset));
     }
     comm->c_coll.coll_barrier (comm, comm->c_coll.coll_barrier_module );