diff --git a/core/java/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializer.java b/core/java/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializer.java
index 99eea151879fd..7a040801a9a50 100644
--- a/core/java/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializer.java
+++ b/core/java/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializer.java
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ public class FastXmlSerializer implements XmlSerializer {
         }
         escapeAndAppendString(text);
         if (mIndent) {
-            mLineStart = text.charAt(text.length()-1) == '\n';
+            mLineStart = text.length() > 0 && (text.charAt(text.length()-1) == '\n');
         }
         return this;
     }
diff --git a/core/tests/coretests/src/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializerTest.java b/core/tests/coretests/src/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..be7116dffb899
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/tests/coretests/src/com/android/internal/util/FastXmlSerializerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.android.internal.util;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlSerializer;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+
+/**
+ * Tests for {@link FastXmlSerializer}
+ */
+public class FastXmlSerializerTest extends TestCase {
+    public void testEmptyText() throws Exception {
+        final ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+
+        final XmlSerializer out = new FastXmlSerializer();
+        out.setOutput(stream, "utf-8");
+        out.startDocument(null, true);
+        out.setFeature("http://xmlpull.org/v1/doc/features.html#indent-output", true);
+
+        out.startTag(null, "string");
+        out.attribute(null, "name", "meow");
+        out.text("");
+        out.endTag(null, "string");
+
+        out.endDocument();
+
+        assertEquals("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>\n"
+                + "<string name=\"meow\"></string>", stream.toString());
+    }
+}