From 488ee5c59ead73a44c4906a62c28ea3074f792df Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Davis King <davis@dlib.net>
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2024 12:57:24 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] handle empty proto objects

---
 dlib/serialize.h | 9 ++++++++-
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/dlib/serialize.h b/dlib/serialize.h
index 6816367871..17004ef027 100644
--- a/dlib/serialize.h
+++ b/dlib/serialize.h
@@ -2570,7 +2570,14 @@ namespace dlib
         // read the size
         in.read((char*)&size, sizeof(size));
         bo.little_to_host(size);
-        if (!in || size == 0)
+        // Empty protos will just be empty.
+        if (size == 0) 
+        {
+            item.Clear();
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (!in)
             throw dlib::serialization_error("Error while deserializing a Google Protocol Buffer object.");
 
         // read the bytes into temp