2 files changed, 24 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/src/inspect_fs.c b/src/inspect_fs.c
index baae5428..0859a2b4 100644
--- a/src/inspect_fs.c
+++ b/src/inspect_fs.c
@@ -507,6 +507,10 @@ check_package_management (guestfs_h *g, struct inspect_fs *fs)
 
 /* Get the first line of a small file, without any trailing newline
  * character.
+ *
+ * NOTE: If the file is completely empty or begins with a '\n'
+ * character, this returns an empty string (not NULL).  The caller
+ * will usually need to check for this case.
  */
 char *
 guestfs___first_line_of_file (guestfs_h *g, const char *filename)
@@ -532,9 +536,9 @@ guestfs___first_line_of_file (guestfs_h *g, const char *filename)
   if (lines == NULL)
     return NULL;
   if (lines[0] == NULL) {
-    error (g, _("%s: file is empty"), filename);
     guestfs___free_string_list (lines);
-    return NULL;
+    /* Empty file: Return an empty string as explained above. */
+    return safe_strdup (g, "");
   }
   /* lines[1] should be NULL because of '1' argument above ... */
 
diff --git a/src/inspect_fs_unix.c b/src/inspect_fs_unix.c
index 2caf4002..06936c23 100644
--- a/src/inspect_fs_unix.c
+++ b/src/inspect_fs_unix.c
@@ -181,6 +181,12 @@ parse_release_file (guestfs_h *g, struct inspect_fs *fs,
   fs->product_name = guestfs___first_line_of_file (g, release_filename);
   if (fs->product_name == NULL)
     return -1;
+  if (STREQ (fs->product_name, "")) {
+    free (fs->product_name);
+    fs->product_name = NULL;
+    error (g, _("release file %s is empty or malformed"), release_filename);
+    return -1;
+  }
   return 0;
 }
 
@@ -659,13 +665,23 @@ check_hostname_unix (guestfs_h *g, struct inspect_fs *fs)
       fs->hostname = guestfs___first_line_of_file (g, "/etc/HOSTNAME");
       if (fs->hostname == NULL)
         return -1;
+      if (STREQ (fs->hostname, "")) {
+        free (fs->hostname);
+        fs->hostname = NULL;
+      }
     }
-    else if (guestfs_is_file (g, "/etc/hostname")) {
+
+    if (!fs->hostname && guestfs_is_file (g, "/etc/hostname")) {
       fs->hostname = guestfs___first_line_of_file (g, "/etc/hostname");
       if (fs->hostname == NULL)
         return -1;
+      if (STREQ (fs->hostname, "")) {
+        free (fs->hostname);
+        fs->hostname = NULL;
+      }
     }
-    else if (guestfs_is_file (g, "/etc/sysconfig/network")) {
+
+    if (!fs->hostname && guestfs_is_file (g, "/etc/sysconfig/network")) {
       const char *configfiles[] = { "/etc/sysconfig/network", NULL };
       if (inspect_with_augeas (g, fs, configfiles,
                                check_hostname_redhat) == -1)