diff --git a/tests/data/test869 b/tests/data/test869
index 71e52342c..61dbc206c 100644
--- a/tests/data/test869
+++ b/tests/data/test869
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ RFC5034
 <servercmd>
 AUTH DIGEST-MD5
 REPLY AUTH + cmVhbG09ImN1cmwiLG5vbmNlPSI1MzAwZDE3YTFkNjk1YmQ0MTFlNGNkZjk2Zjk1NDhjMjNjZWQ2MTc1IixhbGdvcml0aG09bWQ1LXNlc3MscW9wPSJhdXRoIg==
-REPLY dXNlcm5hbWU9InVzZXIiLHJlYWxtPSJjdXJsIixub25jZT0iNTMwMGQxN2ExZDY5NWJkNDExZTRjZGY5NmY5NTQ4YzIzY2VkNjE3NSIsY25vbmNlPSIxMjM0NTY3OCIsbmM9IjAwMDAwMDAxIixkaWdlc3QtdXJpPSJwb3AvY3VybCIscmVzcG9uc2U9YTA2OTE1YTA1ODA3ZDc0MTg0YTkxYjM2NjE2ZTZiOGM= +OK Login successful
+REPLY dXNlcm5hbWU9InVzZXIiLHJlYWxtPSJjdXJsIixub25jZT0iNTMwMGQxN2ExZDY5NWJkNDExZTRjZGY5NmY5NTQ4YzIzY2VkNjE3NSIsY25vbmNlPSIxMjM0NTY3OCIsbmM9IjAwMDAwMDAxIixkaWdlc3QtdXJpPSJwb3AvY3VybCIscmVzcG9uc2U9YTA2OTE1YTA1ODA3ZDc0MTg0YTkxYjM2NjE2ZTZiOGM= +
+REPLY  +OK Login successful
 </servercmd>
 <data>
 From: me@somewhere
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ pop3://%HOSTIP:%POP3PORT/869 -u user:secret
 CAPA
 AUTH DIGEST-MD5
 dXNlcm5hbWU9InVzZXIiLHJlYWxtPSJjdXJsIixub25jZT0iNTMwMGQxN2ExZDY5NWJkNDExZTRjZGY5NmY5NTQ4YzIzY2VkNjE3NSIsY25vbmNlPSIxMjM0NTY3OCIsbmM9IjAwMDAwMDAxIixkaWdlc3QtdXJpPSJwb3AvY3VybCIscmVzcG9uc2U9YTA2OTE1YTA1ODA3ZDc0MTg0YTkxYjM2NjE2ZTZiOGM=
+
 RETR 869
 QUIT
 </protocol>
diff --git a/tests/ftpserver.pl b/tests/ftpserver.pl
index 7e61c2049..803273db6 100755
--- a/tests/ftpserver.pl
+++ b/tests/ftpserver.pl
@@ -2729,9 +2729,14 @@ sub customize {
     logmsg "FTPD: Getting commands from log/ftpserver.cmd\n";
 
     while(<CUSTOM>) {
-        if($_ =~ /REPLY ([A-Za-z0-9+\/=]+) (.*)/) {
+        if($_ =~ /REPLY ([A-Za-z0-9+\/=]*) (.*)/) {
             $customreply{$1}=eval "qq{$2}";
-            logmsg "FTPD: set custom reply for $1\n";
+            if($1 eq "") {
+                logmsg "FTPD: set custom reply for empty response\n";
+            }
+            else {
+                logmsg "FTPD: set custom reply for $1\n";
+            }
         }
         elsif($_ =~ /COUNT ([A-Z]+) (.*)/) {
             # we blank the customreply for this command when having