diff --git a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MICommand.java b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MICommand.java
index eac7c3a9f1d..28e9a92d2c9 100644
--- a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MICommand.java
+++ b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MICommand.java
@@ -343,11 +343,15 @@ public class MICommand<V extends MIInfo> implements ICommand<V> {
 				builder.append('"');
 			}
 			
-			// an empty parameter can be passed with two single quotes
-			if (builder.length() == 0) {
-				builder.append("''"); //$NON-NLS-1$
-			}
-
+// Although this change makes sense, it could have impacts on many
+// different commands we send to GDB.  The risk outways the benefits,
+// so we comment it out.  See bugs 412471 and 414959 for details.
+//			
+//			// an empty parameter can be passed with two single quotes
+//			if (builder.length() == 0) {
+//				builder.append("''"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+//			}
+//
 			return builder.toString();
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MIGDBSetArgs.java b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MIGDBSetArgs.java
index 13b34a8c8d9..620de2d873e 100644
--- a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MIGDBSetArgs.java
+++ b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/mi/service/command/commands/MIGDBSetArgs.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2008, 2011 Ericsson and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2008, 2013 Ericsson and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
  * Contributors:
  *     Ericsson - Initial API and implementation
  *	   Sergey Prigogin (Google)
+ *     Marc Khouzam (Ericsson) - Support empty arguments (bug 412471)
  *******************************************************************************/
 
 package org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.mi.service.command.commands;
@@ -34,7 +35,12 @@ public class MIGDBSetArgs extends MIGDBSet {
     	String[] cmdArray = new String[arguments.length + 1];
     	cmdArray[0] = "args"; //$NON-NLS-1$
     	for (int i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
-    		cmdArray[i + 1] = arguments[i];
+    		if (arguments[i].isEmpty()) {
+    			// An empty parameter can be passed with two single quotes
+    			cmdArray[i + 1] = "''"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+    		} else {
+    			cmdArray[i + 1] = arguments[i];
+    		}
     	}
     	setParameters(cmdArray);
     }