diff --git a/R/install.R b/R/install.R
index 6ae38936..7a8d5a7c 100644
--- a/R/install.R
+++ b/R/install.R
@@ -323,6 +323,11 @@ load_pkg_description <- function(path) {
     stop("No description at ", path_desc, call. = FALSE)
   }
 
+  # Check description is not empty
+  if (file.info(path_desc)$size == 0){
+    stop("Description filie is empty at ", path_desc, call. = FALSE)
+  }
+
   desc <- as.list(readDcf(path_desc)[1, ])
   names(desc) <- tolower(names(desc))
   desc$path <- path
diff --git a/R/restore.R b/R/restore.R
index 1c2382b2..646bc612 100644
--- a/R/restore.R
+++ b/R/restore.R
@@ -292,13 +292,19 @@ getSourceForPkgRecord <- function(pkgRecord,
       # headers"); hide those
       suppressWarnings(untar(srczip, exdir = scratchDir, tar = "internal"))
       # Find the base directory
-      basedir <- if (length(dir(scratchDir)) == 1)
-        file.path(scratchDir, dir(scratchDir))
-      else
-        scratchDir
+      if (length(dir(scratchDir)) == 1){
+	      basedir <- file.path(scratchDir, dir(scratchDir))
+      } else {
+	      basedir <- scratchDir
+      }
+      print("All about that base!")
+      print(basedir)
 
-      if (!is.null(pkgRecord$gh_subdir))
+      if (!is.null(pkgRecord$gh_subdir) && !identical(pkgRecord$gh_subdir, character(0)))
         basedir <- file.path(basedir, pkgRecord$gh_subdir)
+      print(pkgRecord)
+      print(basedir)
+      print(list.files(basedir))
 
       if (!file.exists(file.path(basedir, 'DESCRIPTION'))) {
         stop('No DESCRIPTION file was found in the archive for ', pkgRecord$name)