From 0d77a7e3251aa7a971a365e3fa698ce9f26e2b9d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Richard Heck <rgheck@lyx.org>
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:34:45 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Allow LyX to open empty files (created, e.g., via "touch").

Patch from new contributor Jan Niklas Hasse.
---
 lib/generate_contributions.py |  8 ++++++++
 src/buffer_funcs.cpp          | 18 ++++++++++++------
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/generate_contributions.py b/lib/generate_contributions.py
index 4fce7c13b3..90be99c9f7 100755
--- a/lib/generate_contributions.py
+++ b/lib/generate_contributions.py
@@ -855,6 +855,14 @@ contributors = [
                  "9 June 2015",
                  u"Haiku OS support"),
 
+     contributor(u"Jan Niklas Hasse",
+                 "jhasse () bixense ! com",
+                 "GPL",
+                 "Re: Patch to make it possible to open empty files",
+                 "m=148163124122780",
+                 "23 December 2016",
+                 u"File opening enhancement"),
+
      contributor(u"Richard Heck",
                  "rgheck () comcast ! net",
                  "GPL",
diff --git a/src/buffer_funcs.cpp b/src/buffer_funcs.cpp
index 03ecc90abe..beab239fc3 100644
--- a/src/buffer_funcs.cpp
+++ b/src/buffer_funcs.cpp
@@ -95,12 +95,18 @@ Buffer * checkAndLoadLyXFile(FileName const & filename, bool const acceptDirty)
 	bool const exists = filename.exists();
 	bool const tryVC = exists ? false : LyXVC::fileInVC(filename);
 	if (exists || tryVC) {
-		if (exists && !filename.isReadableFile()) {
-			docstring text = bformat(_("The file %1$s exists but is not "
-				"readable by the current user."),
-				from_utf8(filename.absFileName()));
-			Alert::error(_("File not readable!"), text);
-			return 0;
+		if (exists) {
+			if (!filename.isReadableFile()) {
+				docstring text = bformat(_("The file %1$s exists but is not "
+					"readable by the current user."),
+					from_utf8(filename.absFileName()));
+				Alert::error(_("File not readable!"), text);
+				return 0;
+			}
+			if (filename.extension() == "lyx" && filename.isFileEmpty()) {
+				// Makes it possible to open an empty (0 bytes) .lyx file
+				return newFile(filename.absFileName(), "", true);
+			}
 		}
 		Buffer * b = theBufferList().newBuffer(filename.absFileName());
 		if (!b) {