diff --git a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_package.rs b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_package.rs
index ab4ceeb41..e62e356cf 100644
--- a/src/cargo/ops/cargo_package.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/ops/cargo_package.rs
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ struct VcsInfo {
 
 #[derive(Serialize)]
 struct GitVcsInfo {
-    sha1: String,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    sha1: Option<String>,
     /// Indicate whether or not the Git worktree is dirty.
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "std::ops::Not::not")]
     dirty: bool,
@@ -799,9 +800,12 @@ fn check_repo_state(
             .collect();
         let dirty = !dirty_src_files.is_empty();
         if !dirty || opts.allow_dirty {
+            if repo.is_empty()? {
+                return Ok(GitVcsInfo { sha1: None, dirty });
+            }
             let rev_obj = repo.revparse_single("HEAD")?;
             Ok(GitVcsInfo {
-                sha1: rev_obj.id().to_string(),
+                sha1: Some(rev_obj.id().to_string()),
                 dirty,
             })
         } else {
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/package.rs b/tests/testsuite/package.rs
index 1436b798c..f488c9648 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/package.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/package.rs
@@ -1273,13 +1273,28 @@ fn issue_14354_allowing_dirty_bare_commit() {
         )
         .file("src/lib.rs", "");
 
-    p.cargo("package --allow-dirty")
-        .with_status(101)
-        .with_stderr_data(str![[r#"
-[ERROR] revspec 'HEAD' not found; class=Reference (4); code=NotFound (-3)
+    p.cargo("package --allow-dirty").run();
 
-"#]])
-        .run();
+    let f = File::open(&p.root().join("target/package/foo-0.1.0.crate")).unwrap();
+    validate_crate_contents(
+        f,
+        "foo-0.1.0.crate",
+        &[
+            ".cargo_vcs_info.json",
+            "Cargo.toml",
+            "Cargo.toml.orig",
+            "src/lib.rs",
+        ],
+        &[(
+            ".cargo_vcs_info.json",
+            r#"{
+  "git": {
+    "dirty": true
+  },
+  "path_in_vcs": ""
+}"#,
+        )],
+    );
 }
 
 #[cargo_test]