diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReaderTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReaderTest.java
index 64333fc75..24c6aebaf 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReaderTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReaderTest.java
@@ -83,6 +83,9 @@ public class ReflogReaderTest extends SampleDataRepositoryTestCase {
 	static byte[] headLine = "3333333333333333333333333333333333333333 3e7549db262d1e836d9bf0af7e22355468f1717c A U Thor <thor@committer.au> 1243028201 -0100\tbranch: change to HEAD\n"
 			.getBytes();
 
+	static byte[] oneLineWithoutComment = "da85355dfc525c9f6f3927b876f379f46ccf826e 3e7549db262d1e836d9bf0af7e22355468f1717c A O Thor Too <authortoo@wri.tr> 1243028200 +0200\n"
+			.getBytes();
+
 	@Test
 	public void testReadOneLine() throws Exception {
 		setupReflog("logs/refs/heads/master", oneLine);
@@ -184,6 +187,25 @@ public class ReflogReaderTest extends SampleDataRepositoryTestCase {
 				.getLastEntry().getComment());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testReadLineWithMissingComment() throws Exception {
+		setupReflog("logs/refs/heads/master", oneLineWithoutComment);
+		final ReflogReader reader = db.getReflogReader("master");
+		Entry e = reader.getLastEntry();
+		assertEquals(ObjectId
+				.fromString("da85355dfc525c9f6f3927b876f379f46ccf826e"), e
+				.getOldId());
+		assertEquals(ObjectId
+				.fromString("3e7549db262d1e836d9bf0af7e22355468f1717c"), e
+				.getNewId());
+		assertEquals("A O Thor Too", e.getWho().getName());
+		assertEquals("authortoo@wri.tr", e.getWho().getEmailAddress());
+		assertEquals(120, e.getWho().getTimeZoneOffset());
+		assertEquals("2009-05-22T23:36:40", iso(e.getWho()));
+		assertEquals("",
+				e.getComment());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void testNoLog() throws Exception {
 		assertEquals(0, db.getReflogReader("master").getReverseEntries().size());
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReader.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReader.java
index 75214308d..ea2f73895 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReader.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/ReflogReader.java
@@ -88,18 +88,13 @@ public class ReflogReader {
 						JGitText.get().rawLogMessageDoesNotParseAsLogEntry);
 			}
 			who = RawParseUtils.parsePersonIdentOnly(raw, pos);
-			int p0 = RawParseUtils.next(raw, pos, '\t'); // personident has no
-															// \t
-			if (p0 == -1) {
-				throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-						JGitText.get().rawLogMessageDoesNotParseAsLogEntry);
-			}
-			int p1 = RawParseUtils.nextLF(raw, p0);
-			if (p1 == -1) {
-				throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-						JGitText.get().rawLogMessageDoesNotParseAsLogEntry);
+			int p0 = RawParseUtils.next(raw, pos, '\t');
+			if (p0 >= raw.length)
+				comment = ""; // personident has no \t, no comment present
+			else {
+				int p1 = RawParseUtils.nextLF(raw, p0);
+				comment = p1 > p0 ? RawParseUtils.decode(raw, p0, p1 - 1) : "";
 			}
-			comment = RawParseUtils.decode(raw, p0, p1 - 1);
 		}
 
 		/**