diff --git a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java
index 87e5283c6..539df474f 100644
--- a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java
+++ b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ public class InfoResponseParser {
 	public InfoResponseParser(String infoResponse) {
 		this.infoResponse = infoResponse;
 		System.err.println("response from svn info: '"
-				+ infoResponse.replace("\n", "\\n") + "'");
+				+ ((infoResponse == null) ? null : infoResponse.replace("\n",
+						"\\n")) + "'");
 	}
 
 	public String parse() {
diff --git a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java
index d2ef94976..58035f441 100644
--- a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java
+++ b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public class RevisionInfoBuilder {
 	}
 
 	private String buildDummyInfo() {
-		return buildLine("unknown", "unknown");
+		return buildLine(null, null);
 	}
 
 	private String buildLine(String release, String revision) {