--- ncompress-4.2.4/compress42.c.zerobyteforce	2005-09-02 18:42:56.000000000 +0530
+++ ncompress-4.2.4/compress42.c	2005-09-02 18:43:55.000000000 +0530
@@ -1145,7 +1145,7 @@
 			if (fdout != 1 && close(fdout))
 				write_error();
 
-			if (bytes_in == 0)
+			if ( (bytes_in == 0) && (force == 0 ) )
 			{
 				if (remove_ofname)
 				{