diff --git a/common-src/conffile.c b/common-src/conffile.c
index 031338fa6a..23c1b2d4be 100644
--- a/common-src/conffile.c
+++ b/common-src/conffile.c
@@ -9175,6 +9175,13 @@ merge_val_t(
 	       valsrc->type == CONFTYPE_STR_LIST) {
 	if (valsrc->v.identlist) {
 	    identlist_t il;
+	    if (valdst->v.identlist == NULL ||
+		g_slist_length(valdst->v.identlist) == 0) {
+		valdst->seen.block = current_block;
+		valdst->seen.filename = current_filename;
+		valdst->seen.linenum = current_line_num;
+
+	    }
 	    for (il = valsrc->v.identlist; il != NULL; il = il->next) {
 		 valdst->v.identlist = g_slist_append(valdst->v.identlist,
 						   g_strdup((char *)il->data));