lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm | 11 +++++++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
index bf50365a04603d86d9722a923e4a36f0b8287c77..3a908ac6caba8124a8c7ce4071ee3692e4cb063b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
@@ -107,12 +107,15 @@ 	my $smsg = eval { $self->lookup_message($mid) };
 
 	return { total => 0, msgs => [] } unless $smsg;
 	my $qtid = Search::Xapian::Query->new(xpfx('thread').$smsg->thread_id);
-	my $path = id_compress($smsg->path);
-	my $qsub = Search::Xapian::Query->new(xpfx('path').$path);
-	my $query = Search::Xapian::Query->new(OP_OR, $qtid, $qsub);
+	my $path = $smsg->path;
+	if (defined $path && $path ne '') {
+		my $path = id_compress($smsg->path);
+		my $qsub = Search::Xapian::Query->new(xpfx('path').$path);
+		$qtid = Search::Xapian::Query->new(OP_OR, $qtid, $qsub);
+	}
 	$opts ||= {};
 	$opts->{limit} ||= 1000;
-	_do_enquire($self, $query, $opts);
+	_do_enquire($self, $qtid, $opts);
 }
 
 sub _do_enquire {