--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/CodeWriter.java	Thu Aug 26 15:17:17 2010 -0700
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/CodeWriter.java	Thu Aug 26 16:13:33 2010 -0700
@@ -239,7 +239,10 @@
                 new ArrayList<InstructionDetailWriter>();
         if (options.details.contains(InstructionDetailWriter.Kind.SOURCE)) {
             sourceWriter.reset(classWriter.getClassFile(), attr);
-            detailWriters.add(sourceWriter);
+            if (sourceWriter.hasSource())
+                detailWriters.add(sourceWriter);
+            else
+                println("(Source code not available)");
         }
 
         if (options.details.contains(InstructionDetailWriter.Kind.LOCAL_VARS)) {

--- a/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/SourceWriter.java	Thu Aug 26 15:17:17 2010 -0700
+++ b/src/share/classes/com/sun/tools/javap/SourceWriter.java	Thu Aug 26 16:13:33 2010 -0700
@@ -99,7 +99,10 @@
                 }
             }
         }
+    }
 
+    public boolean hasSource() {
+        return (sourceLines.length > 0);
     }
 
     private void setLineMap(Code_attribute attr) {

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/test/tools/javap/T6980017.java	Thu Aug 26 16:13:33 2010 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2010, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
+ *
+ * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+ * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
+ * accompanied this code).
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
+ * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
+ * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ *
+ * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
+ * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
+ * questions.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * @test
+ * @bug 6980017
+ * @summary javap -XDdetail:source behaves badly if source not available.
+ */
+
+import java.io.*;
+
+public class T6980017 {
+    public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
+        new T6980017().run();
+    }
+
+    void run() throws Exception {
+
+        String[] args = {
+            "-v",
+            "-XDdetails:source",
+            "java.lang.String"
+        };
+
+        StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
+        PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(sw);
+        int rc = com.sun.tools.javap.Main.run(args, pw);
+        pw.close();
+        if (rc != 0)
+            error("Unexpected exit code: " + rc);
+
+        boolean foundBlankSourceLine = false;
+        boolean foundNoSourceLine = false;
+        for (String line: sw.toString().split("[\r\n]+")) {
+            System.err.println(line);
+            if (line.contains("Source code not available"))
+                foundNoSourceLine = true;
+            if (line.matches("\\s*\\( *[0-9]+\\)\\s*"))
+                foundBlankSourceLine = true;
+        }
+
+        if (foundBlankSourceLine)
+            error("found blank source lines");
+
+        if (!foundNoSourceLine)
+            error("did not find \"Source code not available\" message");
+
+        if (errors > 0)
+            throw new Exception(errors + " errors occurred");
+    }
+
+    void error(String msg) {
+        System.err.println(msg);
+        errors++;
+    }
+
+    int errors;
+}