diff --git a/lib/redmine/scm/adapters/filesystem_adapter.rb b/lib/redmine/scm/adapters/filesystem_adapter.rb
index 77977d885..1575f105f 100644
--- a/lib/redmine/scm/adapters/filesystem_adapter.rb
+++ b/lib/redmine/scm/adapters/filesystem_adapter.rb
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ module Redmine
         def initialize(url, root_url=nil, login=nil, password=nil,
                        path_encoding=nil)
           @url = with_trailling_slash(url)
-          @path_encoding = path_encoding || 'UTF-8'
+          @path_encoding = path_encoding.blank? ? 'UTF-8' : path_encoding
         end
 
         def format_path_ends(path, leading=true, trailling=true)