diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 1076df9757..9a466d0031 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+
+ 928.	[bug]		nsupdate would send empty update packets if the
+ 			send (or empty line) command was run after
+			another send but before any new updates or
+			prerequisites were specified.  It should simply
+			ignore this command.
+
  927.	[bug]		Don't hold the zone lock for the entire dump to disk.
 			[RT #1423]
 
diff --git a/bin/nsupdate/nsupdate.c b/bin/nsupdate/nsupdate.c
index 7a81129bf0..705c08c100 100644
--- a/bin/nsupdate/nsupdate.c
+++ b/bin/nsupdate/nsupdate.c
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  * WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  */
 
-/* $Id: nsupdate.c,v 1.96 2001/07/02 18:56:58 gson Exp $ */
+/* $Id: nsupdate.c,v 1.97 2001/07/11 06:30:54 bwelling Exp $ */
 
 #include <config.h>
 
@@ -1753,17 +1753,23 @@ start_update(void) {
 
 	ddebug("start_update()");
 
-	if (userzone != NULL && userserver != NULL) {
-		send_update(userzone, userserver, localaddr);
-		return;
-	}
-
 	result = dns_message_firstname(updatemsg, DNS_SECTION_UPDATE);
 	if (result != ISC_R_SUCCESS) {
 		done_update();
 		return;
 	}
 
+	result = dns_message_firstname(updatemsg, DNS_SECTION_PREREQUISITE);
+	if (result != ISC_R_SUCCESS) {
+		done_update();
+		return;
+	}
+
+	if (userzone != NULL && userserver != NULL) {
+		send_update(userzone, userserver, localaddr);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	result = dns_message_create(mctx, DNS_MESSAGE_INTENTRENDER,
 				    &soaquery);
 	check_result(result, "dns_message_create");