diff --git a/Lib/test/test_grp.py b/Lib/test/test_grp.py
index 458ed38d3cb..f39049feac3 100755
--- a/Lib/test/test_grp.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_grp.py
@@ -12,11 +12,14 @@
     for group in groups:
 	print group
 
+if not groups:
+    if verbose:
+	print "Empty Group Database -- no further tests of grp module possible"
+else:
+    group = grp.getgrgid(groups[0][2])
+    if verbose:
+	print 'Group Entry for GID %d: %s' % (groups[0][2], group)
 
-group = grp.getgrgid(groups[0][2])
-if verbose:
-    print 'Group Entry for GID %d: %s' % (groups[0][2], group)
-
-group = grp.getgrnam(groups[0][0])
-if verbose:
-    print 'Group Entry for group %s: %s' % (groups[0][0], group)
+    group = grp.getgrnam(groups[0][0])
+    if verbose:
+	print 'Group Entry for group %s: %s' % (groups[0][0], group)