diff --git a/src/lint/linter/ArcanistCpplintLinter.php b/src/lint/linter/ArcanistCpplintLinter.php
index f9c6ddf5..4559ec47 100644
--- a/src/lint/linter/ArcanistCpplintLinter.php
+++ b/src/lint/linter/ArcanistCpplintLinter.php
@@ -1,77 +1,87 @@
 <?php
 
 /**
  * Uses Google's `cpplint.py` to check code.
  */
 final class ArcanistCpplintLinter extends ArcanistExternalLinter {
 
   public function getLinterName() {
     return 'C++ Google\'s Styleguide';
   }
 
   public function getLinterConfigurationName() {
     return 'cpplint';
   }
 
   public function getDefaultBinary() {
     return 'cpplint.py';
   }
 
   public function getInstallInstructions() {
     return pht(
       'Install cpplint.py using `%s`, and place it in your path with the '.
       'appropriate permissions set.',
       'wget https://raw.github.com'.
       '/google/styleguide/gh-pages/cpplint/cpplint.py');
   }
 
   protected function getDefaultMessageSeverity($code) {
     return ArcanistLintSeverity::SEVERITY_WARNING;
   }
 
   protected function parseLinterOutput($path, $err, $stdout, $stderr) {
     $lines = explode("\n", $stderr);
 
     $messages = array();
     foreach ($lines as $line) {
       $line = trim($line);
       $matches = null;
       $regex = '/(\d+):\s*(.*)\s*\[(.*)\] \[(\d+)\]$/';
       if (!preg_match($regex, $line, $matches)) {
         continue;
       }
       foreach ($matches as $key => $match) {
         $matches[$key] = trim($match);
       }
 
       $severity = $this->getLintMessageSeverity($matches[3]);
 
       $message = new ArcanistLintMessage();
       $message->setPath($path);
-      $message->setLine($matches[1]);
       $message->setCode($matches[3]);
       $message->setName($matches[3]);
       $message->setDescription($matches[2]);
       $message->setSeverity($severity);
 
+      // NOTE: "cpplint" raises some messages which apply to the whole file,
+      // like "no #ifndef guard found". It raises these messages on line 0.
+
+      // Arcanist messages should have a "null" line, not a "0" line, if they
+      // aren't bound to a particular line number.
+
+      $line = (int)$matches[1];
+      if ($line > 0) {
+        $message->setLine($line);
+      }
+
       $messages[] = $message;
     }
 
     return $messages;
   }
 
   protected function getLintCodeFromLinterConfigurationKey($code) {
     if (!preg_match('@^[a-z_]+/[a-z0-9_+]+$@', $code)) {
       throw new Exception(
         pht(
           'Unrecognized lint message code "%s". Expected a valid cpplint '.
           'lint code like "%s" or "%s".',
           $code,
           'build/include_order',
           'whitespace/braces'));
     }
 
     return $code;
   }
 
 }