diff --git a/__root__/ccs-flatten/flatten.c b/__root__/ccs-flatten/flatten.c
index 9e4940f..08eb283 100644
--- a/__root__/ccs-flatten/flatten.c
+++ b/__root__/ccs-flatten/flatten.c
@@ -150,14 +150,17 @@ flatten(int argc, char **argv)
     } while (rawmetadata);
     if (!rulelist) {
         fprintf(stderr, "No resource rules available\n");
-        goto out;
+        if (rm)
+            goto out;
+        else
+            goto out_print;
     }
 
     load_resources(&reslist, &rulelist);
     build_resource_tree(&tree, &rulelist, &reslist);
     if (!tree) {
         fprintf(stderr, "No resource trees defined; nothing to do\n");
-        goto out;
+        goto out_print;
     }
 #ifdef DEBUG
     fprintf(stderr, "Resources %p tree %p\n", reslist, tree);
@@ -195,11 +198,13 @@ flatten(int argc, char **argv)
         xmlAddChild(rm, new_rb);
     }
 
+  out_print:
     xmlDocFormatDump(f, d, 1);
+
+  out:
     if (f != stdout)
         fclose(f);
 
-  out:
     conf_close();
     destroy_resource_tree(&tree);
     destroy_resources(&reslist);
diff --git a/filters/ccs2ccsflat.py b/filters/ccs2ccsflat.py
index 3d850ca..3ecf6c2 100644
--- a/filters/ccs2ccsflat.py
+++ b/filters/ccs2ccsflat.py
@@ -42,14 +42,7 @@ def ccs2ccsflat(flt_ctxt, in_obj):
     except OSError:
         raise FilterError(self, "ccs_flatten binary seems unavailable")
     out, err = proc.communicate()
-    if proc.returncode != 0:
+    if proc.returncode != 0 or out == '' and err != '':
         raise FilterError(self, "ccs_flatten exit code: {0}\n\t{1}",
                           proc.returncode, err)
-    elif out == '':
-        # "No resource trees defined; nothing to do"
-        try:
-            with file(in_file, 'r') as f:
-                out = f.read()
-        except IOError, e:
-            raise FilterError(self, e.strerror + ": {0}", e.filename)
     return ('bytestring', out)
diff --git a/tests/filter_manager.py b/tests/filter_manager.py
index 85f9635..b72af44 100644
--- a/tests/filter_manager.py
+++ b/tests/filter_manager.py
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 from unittest import TestCase
 from os.path import dirname, join
 
+from lxml.doctestcompare import norm_whitespace
+
 from .format_manager import FormatManager
 from .format import formats
 formats = formats.plugins
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ def test_run_ccs2ccsflat(self):
         # XXX print result
         # CHECK the externalized representation matches the original
         with file(testfile) as f:
-            self.assertEqual(result, f.read())
+            self.assertEqual(norm_whitespace(result), norm_whitespace(f.read()))
 
 
 class CompositeFormatIO(FilterManagerTestCase):
@@ -84,11 +86,12 @@ def test_run_double_ccs2ccsflat(self):
         # externalize outputs
         results = out_objs(('composite', ('bytestring', 'bytestring')))
         # XXX print results
-        # CHECK resulting externalized reprezentation is, however, tha same
-        self.assertEqual(*results)
+        # CHECK resulting externalized representation is, however, tha same
+        self.assertEqual(*tuple(norm_whitespace for r in results))
         # CHECK picked externalized representation matches the original
         with file(testfile) as f:
-            self.assertEqual(results[0], f.read())
+            self.assertEqual(norm_whitespace(results[0]),
+                             norm_whitespace(f.read()))
 
 
 execfile(op.join(op.dirname(__file__), '_bootstart.py'))