diff --git a/.bzrignore b/.bzrignore
index 135d0a66fbf..3b65e8d24e4 100644
--- a/.bzrignore
+++ b/.bzrignore
@@ -3072,3 +3072,4 @@ libmysqld/sql_profile.cc
 *.exp
 comments
 maria-win.patch
+storage/maria/maria_dump_log
diff --git a/mysql-test/r/maria.result b/mysql-test/r/maria.result
index d5fe9f1d237..724d623e07c 100644
--- a/mysql-test/r/maria.result
+++ b/mysql-test/r/maria.result
@@ -2071,6 +2071,37 @@ Maria_pagecache_read_requests	#
 Maria_pagecache_reads	#
 Maria_pagecache_write_requests	#
 Maria_pagecache_writes	#
+create table t1 (b char(0));
+insert into t1 values(NULL),("");
+select length(b) from t1;
+length(b)
+NULL
+0
+alter table t1 add column c char(0), add key (c);
+insert into t1 values("",""),("",NULL);
+select length(b),length(c) from t1;
+length(b)	length(c)
+NULL	NULL
+0	NULL
+0	0
+0	NULL
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 where c is null;
+length(b)	length(c)
+NULL	NULL
+0	NULL
+0	NULL
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 where c is not null;
+length(b)	length(c)
+0	0
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 order by c;
+length(b)	length(c)
+NULL	NULL
+0	NULL
+0	NULL
+0	0
+alter table t1 add column d char(0) not null, add key (d);
+ERROR 42000: The used storage engine can't index column 'd'
+drop table t1;
 set global maria_page_checksum=1;
 create table t1 (a int);
 show create table t1;
diff --git a/mysql-test/t/maria.test b/mysql-test/t/maria.test
index 5feefa20c09..91d2b2111b5 100644
--- a/mysql-test/t/maria.test
+++ b/mysql-test/t/maria.test
@@ -1315,6 +1315,23 @@ show variables like 'maria%';
 --replace_column 2 #
 show status like 'maria%';
 
+#
+# Test creating table with no field data and index on zero length columns
+#
+
+create table t1 (b char(0));
+insert into t1 values(NULL),("");
+select length(b) from t1;
+alter table t1 add column c char(0), add key (c);
+insert into t1 values("",""),("",NULL);
+select length(b),length(c) from t1;
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 where c is null;
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 where c is not null;
+select length(b),length(c) from t1 order by c;
+--error 1167
+alter table t1 add column d char(0) not null, add key (d);
+drop table t1;
+
 #
 # Show that page_checksum is remembered
 #
diff --git a/sql/sql_table.cc b/sql/sql_table.cc
index 839ea6b7245..c4897efd447 100644
--- a/sql/sql_table.cc
+++ b/sql/sql_table.cc
@@ -2899,10 +2899,10 @@ mysql_prepare_create_table(THD *thd, HA_CREATE_INFO *create_info,
 	else if (!(file->ha_table_flags() & HA_NO_PREFIX_CHAR_KEYS))
 	  length=column->length;
       }
-      else if (length == 0)
+      else if (length == 0 && (sql_field->flags & NOT_NULL_FLAG))
       {
 	my_error(ER_WRONG_KEY_COLUMN, MYF(0), column->field_name);
-	  DBUG_RETURN(TRUE);
+        DBUG_RETURN(TRUE);
       }
       if (length > file->max_key_part_length() && key->type != Key::FULLTEXT)
       {
diff --git a/storage/maria/ma_create.c b/storage/maria/ma_create.c
index ccff0bb23ae..a5ab813745b 100644
--- a/storage/maria/ma_create.c
+++ b/storage/maria/ma_create.c
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ int maria_create(const char *name, enum data_file_type datafile_type,
     ci=&tmp_create_info;
   }
 
-  if (keys + uniques > MARIA_MAX_KEY || columns == 0)
+  if (keys + uniques > MARIA_MAX_KEY)
   {
     DBUG_RETURN(my_errno=HA_WRONG_CREATE_OPTION);
   }
diff --git a/storage/maria/ma_pagecrc.c b/storage/maria/ma_pagecrc.c
index 698cc8b95e0..f573ba132d2 100644
--- a/storage/maria/ma_pagecrc.c
+++ b/storage/maria/ma_pagecrc.c
@@ -305,6 +305,10 @@ my_bool maria_page_filler_set_none(uchar *page __attribute__((unused)),
                                    __attribute__((unused)),
                                    uchar *data_ptr __attribute__((unused)))
 {
+#ifdef HAVE_purify
+  int4store_aligned(page + ((MARIA_SHARE *)data_ptr)->block_size - CRC_SIZE,
+                    0);
+#endif
   return 0;
 }