diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
index 13a253e0a..eb7c9e120 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ public class DirCacheCheckout {
 			throw new IndexWriteException();
 		}
 
-		return toBeDeleted == null;
+		return toBeDeleted.size() == 0;
 	}
 
 	private static boolean isSamePrefix(String a, String b) {