Index: src/contrib/hbase/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rest/TableHandler.java =================================================================== --- src/contrib/hbase/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rest/TableHandler.java (revision 602176) +++ src/contrib/hbase/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rest/TableHandler.java (working copy) @@ -308,8 +307,16 @@ Node value_node = column.getElementsByTagName("value").item(0); - // decode the base64'd value - byte[] value = org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Base64.decode(value_node.getFirstChild().getNodeValue()); + byte[] value = new byte[0]; + + // for some reason there's no value here. probably indicates that + // the consumer passed a null as the cell value. + if(value_node.getFirstChild() != null && + value_node.getFirstChild().getNodeValue() != null){ + // decode the base64'd value + value = org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Base64.decode( + value_node.getFirstChild().getNodeValue()); + } // put the value table.put(lock_id, name, value);