diff --git a/mercurial/bundle2.py b/mercurial/bundle2.py
--- a/mercurial/bundle2.py
+++ b/mercurial/bundle2.py
@@ -2528,6 +2528,8 @@
 def handlestreamv2bundle(op, part):
 
     requirements = urlreq.unquote(part.params[b'requirements']).split(b',')
+    if requirements == [b'']:
+        requirements = []
     filecount = int(part.params[b'filecount'])
     bytecount = int(part.params[b'bytecount'])
 
diff --git a/tests/test-clone-stream.t b/tests/test-clone-stream.t
--- a/tests/test-clone-stream.t
+++ b/tests/test-clone-stream.t
@@ -817,3 +817,9 @@
   $ killdaemons.py
 
 #endif
+
+Cloning a repo with no requirements doesn't give some obscure error
+
+  $ mkdir -p empty-repo/.hg
+  $ hg clone -q --stream ssh://user@dummy/empty-repo empty-repo2
+  $ hg --cwd empty-repo2 verify -q