diff --git a/libjava/ChangeLog b/libjava/ChangeLog
index a624e4ebb6a..1d3bb42afcf 100644
--- a/libjava/ChangeLog
+++ b/libjava/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+1999-04-07  Warren Levy  <warrenl@cygnus.com>
+
+	* java/lang/natString.cc (init(jbyteArray,jint,jint,jstring)):
+	Set count to 0 when InputStreamReader returns -1 for EOF.
+
 1999-04-07  Tom Tromey  <tromey@cygnus.com>
 
 	* mauve-libgcj: Omit java.text.Collator,
diff --git a/libjava/java/lang/natString.cc b/libjava/java/lang/natString.cc
index 5cb7b2c72b4..8aad9ee4b8c 100644
--- a/libjava/java/lang/natString.cc
+++ b/libjava/java/lang/natString.cc
@@ -392,6 +392,10 @@ java::lang::String::init (jbyteArray bytes, jint offset, jint count,
   boffset = (char *) elements (array) - (char *) array;
   // FIXME: this can throw IOException.
   this->count = ir->read(array, 0, count);
+
+  // In case read() doesn't read anything, change -1 for EOF to a count of 0.
+  if (this->count < 0)
+    this->count = 0;
 }
 
 jboolean