diff --git a/LbPlatformUtils/inspect.py b/LbPlatformUtils/inspect.py
index 5f2cf08c1f8bc23aee70ec16cf02fc3cfc251c87..e26b9217f9ecc479b857c49e08a8a696a3bc97c9 100644
--- a/LbPlatformUtils/inspect.py
+++ b/LbPlatformUtils/inspect.py
@@ -121,8 +121,10 @@ def _Linux_os():
     version = ''
 
     try:
-        if os.path.exists('/etc/os-release'):
-            name, version = parse_os_release(open('/etc/os-release'))
+        os_release_fn = '/etc/os-release'
+        # Some systems have an empty /etc/os-release that we should ignore
+        if os.path.exists(os_release_fn) and os.path.getsize(os_release_fn) > 0:
+            name, version = parse_os_release(open(os_release_fn))
 
         elif os.path.exists('/etc/redhat-release'):
             name, version = parse_system_release(