diff --git a/hgext/absorb.py b/hgext/absorb.py
--- a/hgext/absorb.py
+++ b/hgext/absorb.py
@@ -782,7 +782,9 @@ class fixupstate(object):
                 # nothing changed, nothing commited
                 nextp1 = ctx
                 continue
-            if self._willbecomenoop(memworkingcopy, ctx, nextp1):
+            if ctx.files() and self._willbecomenoop(
+                memworkingcopy, ctx, nextp1
+            ):
                 # changeset is no longer necessary
                 self.replacemap[ctx.node()] = None
                 msg = _(b'became empty and was dropped')
diff --git a/tests/test-absorb.t b/tests/test-absorb.t
--- a/tests/test-absorb.t
+++ b/tests/test-absorb.t
@@ -587,3 +587,21 @@ This should move us to the non-obsolete 
       b |  0
       2 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
   
+
+  $ cd ..
+  $ hg init repo8
+  $ cd repo8
+  $ echo a1 > a
+  $ hg commit -m a -A a
+  $ hg commit -m empty --config ui.allowemptycommit=True
+  $ echo a2 > a
+  $ hg absorb --apply-changes --verbose | grep became
+  0:ecf99a8d6699: 1 file(s) changed, became 2:7e3ccf8e2fa5
+  1:97f72456ae0d: 1 file(s) changed, became 3:2df488325d6f
+  $ hg log -T '{rev} {desc}\n' -G --stat
+  @  3 empty
+  |
+  o  2 a
+      a |  1 +
+      1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
+