diff --git a/src/support/ChangeLog b/src/support/ChangeLog
index 65a54e5cec..0f8389b951 100644
--- a/src/support/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/support/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2005-08-31  Jean-Marc Lasgouttes  <lasgouttes@lyx.org>
+
+	* filetools.C (MakeDisplayPath): fix bug when HOME is empty.
+
+	* lstrings.C (subst): the string to be replaced should not be empty.
+
 2005-07-12  Jean-Marc Lasgouttes  <lasgouttes@lyx.org>
 
 	* package.C (get_default_user_support_dir): for windows and osx
diff --git a/src/support/filetools.C b/src/support/filetools.C
index 33f4f03051..48d75614a3 100644
--- a/src/support/filetools.C
+++ b/src/support/filetools.C
@@ -1324,7 +1324,7 @@ string const MakeDisplayPath(string const & path, unsigned int threshold)
 	string const home(lyx::package().home_dir());
 
 	// replace /home/blah with ~/
-	if (prefixIs(str, home))
+	if (!home.empty() && prefixIs(str, home))
 		str = subst(str, home, "~");
 
 	if (str.length() <= threshold)
diff --git a/src/support/lstrings.C b/src/support/lstrings.C
index 75cbc7a949..c5544d8c4d 100644
--- a/src/support/lstrings.C
+++ b/src/support/lstrings.C
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ string const subst(string const & a, char oldchar, char newchar)
 string const subst(string const & a,
 		   char const * oldstr, string const & newstr)
 {
-	lyx::Assert(oldstr);
+	lyx::Assert(oldstr && oldstr[0]);
 
 	string lstr(a);
 	string::size_type i = 0;
@@ -480,6 +480,8 @@ string const subst(string const & a,
 string const subst(string const & a,
 		   string const & oldstr, string const & newstr)
 {
+	lyx::Assert(!oldstr.empty());
+
 	string lstr(a);
 	string::size_type i = 0;
 	string::size_type const olen = oldstr.length();
diff --git a/status.13x b/status.13x
index 3acbf15d98..b52c686da4 100644
--- a/status.13x
+++ b/status.13x
@@ -44,9 +44,11 @@ What's new
 
 - Enable TeXFiles.sh to run when its path contains spaces.
 
+- Fix crash when trying to display current directory and ${HOME} is empty.
+
 * Configuration/Installation:
 
-- compile without STL compatibilty support, since some systems do that
+- compile without STL compatibility support, since some systems do that
   by default (Slackware, for ex.). [Qt only]
 
 - enable compilation of LyX on DragonFly BSD.