diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2Archiver.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2Archiver.java
index 0e408cfb7..151db9308 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2Archiver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2Archiver.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiveEntry;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ResourceIterator;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 
 public class BZip2Archiver
     extends AbstractArchiver
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ public void execute()
         }
 
         ResourceIterator iter = getResources();
+        if ( !iter.hasNext() )
+        {
+            throw new EmptyArchiveException( "You must set at least one file." );
+        }
         ArchiveEntry entry = iter.next();
         if ( iter.hasNext() )
         {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiver.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiver.java
index 79abbab0e..fd3ad77c1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiver.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiveEntry;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ResourceIterator;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 
 public class GZipArchiver
     extends AbstractArchiver
@@ -38,6 +39,10 @@ protected void execute()
         }
 
         ResourceIterator iter = getResources();
+        if ( !iter.hasNext() )
+        {
+            throw new EmptyArchiveException( "You must set at least one file." );
+        }
         ArchiveEntry entry = iter.next();
         if ( iter.hasNext() )
         {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiver.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiver.java
index f71a020b9..dafbc1a61 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiver.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiveEntry;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ResourceIterator;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 
 /**
  * Snappy archiver.
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ public void execute()
         }
 
         ResourceIterator iter = getResources();
+        if ( !iter.hasNext() )
+        {
+            throw new EmptyArchiveException( "You must set at least one file." );
+        }
         ArchiveEntry entry = iter.next();
         if ( iter.hasNext() )
         {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XZArchiver.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XZArchiver.java
index f7ab53dc0..e8ff0ed99 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XZArchiver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XZArchiver.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiveEntry;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ResourceIterator;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 
 /**
  * @author philiplourandos
@@ -43,6 +44,10 @@ protected void execute() throws ArchiverException, IOException
         }
 
         ResourceIterator iter = getResources();
+        if ( !iter.hasNext() )
+        {
+            throw new EmptyArchiveException( "You must set at least one file." );
+        }
         ArchiveEntry entry = iter.next();
         if ( iter.hasNext() )
         {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2ArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2ArchiverTest.java
index 96e5f7b86..619eca8e9 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2ArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/bzip2/BZip2ArchiverTest.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.Archiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.BasePlexusArchiverTest;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.zip.ZipArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.IOUtil;
@@ -57,6 +58,22 @@ public void testCreateArchive()
         archiver.createArchive();
     }
 
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        BZip2Archiver archiver = (BZip2Archiver) lookup( Archiver.ROLE, "bzip2" );
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.bz2" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testCreateResourceCollection()
         throws Exception
     {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiverTest.java
index 1ecb435dd..5803a70c2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/gzip/GZipArchiverTest.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.Archiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.BasePlexusArchiverTest;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.zip.ZipArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.IOUtil;
@@ -57,6 +58,23 @@ public void testCreateArchive()
         archiver.createArchive();
     }
 
+
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        GZipArchiver archiver = (GZipArchiver) lookup( Archiver.ROLE, "gzip" );
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.gz" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testCreateResourceCollection()
         throws Exception
     {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiverTest.java
index 08b7eabcb..c2c93157a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/snappy/SnappyArchiverTest.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.Archiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.BasePlexusArchiverTest;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.zip.ZipArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.IOUtil;
@@ -57,6 +58,22 @@ public void testCreateArchive()
         archiver.createArchive();
     }
 
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        SnappyArchiver archiver = (SnappyArchiver) lookup( Archiver.ROLE, "snappy" );
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.snappy" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testCreateResourceCollection()
         throws Exception
     {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/tar/TarArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/tar/TarArchiverTest.java
index 060b62a86..84bb1fa9c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/tar/TarArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/tar/TarArchiverTest.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.ArchiverException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.UnixStat;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.bzip2.BZip2Compressor;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.gzip.GZipCompressor;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.util.ArchiveEntryUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.util.Compressor;
@@ -227,6 +228,22 @@ public void testCreateArchiveWithDetectedModes()
         }
     }
 
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        TarArchiver archiver = getPosixTarArchiver();
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.tar" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testUnicode() throws Exception
     {
         File tmpDir = getTestFile( "src/test/resources/utf8" );
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XzArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XzArchiverTest.java
index da6fc1d84..e83d090d2 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XzArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/xz/XzArchiverTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.Archiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.BasePlexusArchiverTest;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.zip.ZipArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.FileUtils;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.util.IOUtil;
@@ -60,6 +61,22 @@ public void testCreateArchive()
         assertTrue( targetOutputFile.exists() );
     }
 
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        XZArchiver archiver = (XZArchiver) lookup( Archiver.ROLE, "xz" );
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.xz" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testCreateResourceCollection() throws Exception
     {
         final File pomFile = new File( "pom.xml" );
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/zip/ZipArchiverTest.java b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/zip/ZipArchiverTest.java
index c1fd934ff..03cd44026 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/zip/ZipArchiverTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/codehaus/plexus/archiver/zip/ZipArchiverTest.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.BasePlexusArchiverTest;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.UnArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.UnixStat;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.exceptions.EmptyArchiveException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.tar.TarArchiver;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.tar.TarFile;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.util.ArchiveEntryUtils;
@@ -284,6 +285,22 @@ public void testCreateArchiveWithDetectedModes()
         }
     }
 
+    public void testCreateEmptyArchive()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        ZipArchiver archiver = getZipArchiver();
+        archiver.setDestFile( getTestFile( "target/output/empty.zip" ) );
+        try
+        {
+            archiver.createArchive();
+
+            fail( "Creating empty archive should throw EmptyArchiveException" );
+        }
+        catch ( EmptyArchiveException ignore )
+        {
+        }
+    }
+
     private ZipArchiver getZipArchiver()
     {
         try