--- ogr2ogr.cpp.bak	Tue Jan 19 12:33:50 2010
+++ ogr2ogr.cpp	Thu Feb 04 14:08:58 2010
@@ -1170,7 +1170,7 @@
 
     if (papszSelFields && !bAppend )
     {
-        int         nDstFieldCount = poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount();
+		int         nDstFieldCount = (poDstFDefn ? poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount() : 0);
         for( iField=0; papszSelFields[iField] != NULL; iField++)
         {
             int iSrcField = poSrcFDefn->GetFieldIndex(papszSelFields[iField]);
@@ -1188,7 +1188,9 @@
                 }
                 
                 /* The field may have been already created at layer creation */
-                int iDstField = poDstFDefn->GetFieldIndex(oFieldDefn.GetNameRef());
+                int iDstField = -1;
+                if (poDstFDefn)
+                    iDstField = poDstFDefn->GetFieldIndex(oFieldDefn.GetNameRef());
                 if (iDstField >= 0)
                 {
                     panMap[iSrcField] = iDstField;
@@ -1196,6 +1198,9 @@
                 else if (poDstLayer->CreateField( &oFieldDefn ) == OGRERR_NONE)
                 {
                     /* Sanity check : if it fails, the driver is buggy */
+					if (!poDstFDefn) 
+						poDstFDefn = poDstLayer->GetLayerDefn(); // now that we've created a field, GetLayerDefn() won't return NULL
+
                     if (poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount() != nDstFieldCount + 1)
                     {
                         CPLError(CE_Warning, CPLE_AppDefined,
@@ -1223,7 +1228,7 @@
     }
     else if( !bAppend )
     {
-        int         nDstFieldCount = poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount();
+        int         nDstFieldCount = (poDstFDefn ? poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount() : 0);
         for( iField = 0; iField < nSrcFieldCount; iField++ )
         {
             OGRFieldDefn* poSrcFieldDefn = poSrcFDefn->GetFieldDefn(iField);
@@ -1238,13 +1243,18 @@
             }
 
             /* The field may have been already created at layer creation */
-            int iDstField = poDstFDefn->GetFieldIndex(oFieldDefn.GetNameRef());
+            int iDstField = -1;
+			if (poDstFDefn)
+				iDstField = poDstFDefn->GetFieldIndex(oFieldDefn.GetNameRef());
             if (iDstField >= 0)
             {
                 panMap[iField] = iDstField;
             }
             else if (poDstLayer->CreateField( &oFieldDefn ) == OGRERR_NONE)
             {
+                if (!poDstFDefn) 
+                    poDstFDefn = poDstLayer->GetLayerDefn(); // now that we've created a field, GetLayerDefn() won't return NULL
+
                 /* Sanity check : if it fails, the driver is buggy */
                 if (poDstFDefn->GetFieldCount() != nDstFieldCount + 1)
                 {