diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 5970ee8a89..64bbc5b555 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -2440,3 +2440,25 @@ Charlie 28 Feb 2006
         boinc_api.h
         mac_icon.C
         x_openGL.C
+
+David  28 Feb 2006
+	- Continuing saga of Curl encodings.
+		It seems like if you call set CURLOPT_ENCODING
+		with any value, even "identity",
+		it will accept any encoding.
+		This breaks projects that do application-level gzip.
+		Solution: if the filename ends with ".gz",
+		don't set CURLOPT_ENCODING.
+		Otherwise set it to "" (accept all).
+		NOTE: I think this supports current requirements
+		(for "deflate" to work, and for app-level gzip to work).
+		At some point I'll implement BOINC-level gzip.
+	- Fix the format of <error_msg> elements within <file_info>.
+		Need a CR between the last line and the </error_msg> tag.
+	- In the course of testing I found that a <file_info>
+		with no <url>s will crash the core client.
+		Fixed this.
+	client/
+		client_types.C
+		file_xfer.C
+		http_curl.C
diff --git a/client/client_types.C b/client/client_types.C
index 6c3927fe90..2a2beea9e7 100644
--- a/client/client_types.C
+++ b/client/client_types.C
@@ -714,7 +714,8 @@ int FILE_INFO::write(MIOFILE& out, bool to_server) {
         }
     }
     if (!error_msg.empty()) {
-        out.printf("    <error_msg>\n%s</error_msg>\n", error_msg.c_str());
+        strip_whitespace(error_msg);
+        out.printf("    <error_msg>\n%s\n</error_msg>\n", error_msg.c_str());
     }
     out.printf("</file_info>\n");
 #if 0
@@ -773,6 +774,9 @@ int FILE_INFO::delete_file() {
 // NULL return means there is no URL of the requested type
 //
 const char* FILE_INFO::get_init_url(bool is_upload) {
+    if (!urls.size()) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
 
 // if a project supplies multiple URLs, try them in order
 // (e.g. in Einstein@home they're ordered by proximity to client).
@@ -809,6 +813,7 @@ const char* FILE_INFO::get_init_url(bool is_upload) {
 // NULL return means you've tried them all.
 //
 const char* FILE_INFO::get_next_url(bool is_upload) {
+    if (!urls.size()) return NULL;
     while(1) {
         current_url = (current_url + 1)%urls.size();
         if (current_url == start_url) {
diff --git a/client/file_xfer.C b/client/file_xfer.C
index 7156e69b3f..64464f960c 100644
--- a/client/file_xfer.C
+++ b/client/file_xfer.C
@@ -60,8 +60,10 @@ int FILE_XFER::init_download(FILE_INFO& file_info) {
     }
     bytes_xferred = starting_size;
 
+    const char* url = fip->get_current_url(is_upload);
+    if (!url) return ERR_INVALID_URL;
     return HTTP_OP::init_get(
-        fip->get_current_url(is_upload), pathname, false, (int)starting_size
+        url, pathname, false, (int)starting_size
     );
 }
 
@@ -92,7 +94,9 @@ int FILE_XFER::init_upload(FILE_INFO& file_info) {
             file_info.name
         );
         file_size_query = true;
-        return HTTP_OP::init_post2(fip->get_current_url(is_upload), header, NULL, 0);
+        const char* url = fip->get_current_url(is_upload);
+        if (!url) return ERR_INVALID_URL;
+        return HTTP_OP::init_post2(url, header, NULL, 0);
     } else {
         bytes_xferred = file_info.upload_offset;
         sprintf(header,
@@ -116,8 +120,10 @@ int FILE_XFER::init_upload(FILE_INFO& file_info) {
             file_info.upload_offset
         );
         file_size_query = false;
+        const char* url = fip->get_current_url(is_upload);
+        if (!url) return ERR_INVALID_URL;
         return HTTP_OP::init_post2(
-            fip->get_current_url(is_upload), header, pathname, fip->upload_offset
+            url , header, pathname, fip->upload_offset
         );
     }
 }
diff --git a/client/http_curl.C b/client/http_curl.C
index 85b014d0f7..bda801a58c 100644
--- a/client/http_curl.C
+++ b/client/http_curl.C
@@ -304,7 +304,15 @@ The checking this option controls is of the identity that the server claims. The
     curlErr = curl_easy_setopt(curlEasy, CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS, 5L);
     curlErr = curl_easy_setopt(curlEasy, CURLOPT_AUTOREFERER, 1L);
     curlErr = curl_easy_setopt(curlEasy, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
-    //curlErr = curl_easy_setopt(curlEasy, CURLOPT_ENCODING, "deflate");
+
+    // if we tell Curl to accept any encoding (e.g. deflate)
+    // it seems to accept them all, which screws up projects that
+    // use gzip at the application level.
+    // So, detect this and don't accept any encoding in that case
+    //
+    if (!out || !ends_with(std::string(out), std::string(".gz"))) {
+        curlErr = curl_easy_setopt(curlEasy, CURLOPT_ENCODING, "");
+    }
 
     // setup any proxy they may need
     setupProxyCurl();