diff --git a/mozilla/webtools/tinderbox2/src/lib/TinderDB/VC_CVS.pm b/mozilla/webtools/tinderbox2/src/lib/TinderDB/VC_CVS.pm
index 4fcdf385dc1..47d08d51fa9 100755
--- a/mozilla/webtools/tinderbox2/src/lib/TinderDB/VC_CVS.pm
+++ b/mozilla/webtools/tinderbox2/src/lib/TinderDB/VC_CVS.pm
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ use TreeData;
 use VCDisplay;
 
 
-$VERSION = ( qw $Revision: 1.17 $ )[1];
+$VERSION = ( qw $Revision: 1.18 $ )[1];
 
 @ISA = qw(TinderDB::BasicTxtDB);
 
@@ -449,6 +449,9 @@ sub apply_db_updates {
     } # foreach $line
   } # any updates
 
+  ($num_updates) ||
+      return 0;
+
   $METADATA{$tree}{'updates_since_trim'} += $num_updates;
 
   if ( ($METADATA{$tree}{'updates_since_trim'} >