1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
index 08f797749f..aaf4bb6bfd 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/xml_mini/rexml.rb
@@ -15,13 +15,19 @@ module ActiveSupport
     # data::
     #   XML Document string or IO to parse
     def parse(data)
-      if data.respond_to?(:read)
-        data = data.read
+      if !data.respond_to?(:read)
+        data = StringIO.new(data || '')
+      end
+      
+      char = data.getc
+      if char.nil?
+        {}
+      else
+        data.ungetc(char)
+        require 'rexml/document' unless defined?(REXML::Document)
+        doc = REXML::Document.new(data)
+        merge_element!({}, doc.root)
       end
-
-      require 'rexml/document' unless defined?(REXML::Document)
-      doc = REXML::Document.new(data)
-      merge_element!({}, doc.root)
     end
 
     private