2 files changed, 21 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing.rb
index 32ce0db3aa..6b551e2533 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/routing.rb
@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ module ActionController
     
       def initialize(key, options = {})
         @key = key.to_sym
-        @default, @condition = options[:default], options[:condition]
-        @optional = options.key?(:default)
+        default, @condition = options[:default], options[:condition]
+        self.default = default if options.key?(:default)
       end
 
       def default_check(g)
@@ -226,8 +226,12 @@ module ActionController
 
     class PathComponent < DynamicComponent #:nodoc:
       def optional?() true end
-      def default()   ''   end
+      def default()   []  end
       def condition() nil  end
+
+      def default=(value)
+        raise RoutingError, "All path components have an implicit default of []" unless value == []
+      end
   
       def write_generation(g)
         raise RoutingError, 'Path components must occur last' unless g.after.empty?
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/routing_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/routing_test.rb
index c68b1f70d3..3bc240b44d 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/controller/routing_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/routing_test.rb
@@ -711,6 +711,20 @@ class RouteSetTests < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal [], results['path']
   end
 
+  def test_paths_do_not_accept_defaults
+    assert_raises(ActionController::RoutingError) do
+      rs.draw do |map|
+        rs.path 'file/*path', :controller => 'content', :action => 'show_file', :path => %w(fake default)
+        rs.connect ':controller/:action/:id'
+      end
+    end
+    
+    rs.draw do |map|
+      rs.path 'file/*path', :controller => 'content', :action => 'show_file', :path => []
+      rs.connect ':controller/:action/:id'
+    end
+  end
+  
   def test_backwards
     rs.draw do |map|
       rs.connect 'page/:id/:action', :controller => 'pages', :action => 'show'