diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index d2b6145..df791f5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-project('OZI.build', version : '1.2.1', license : 'apache-2.0')
+project('OZI.build', version : '1.2.2', license : 'apache-2.0')
 fs = import('fs')
 python = import('python').find_installation()
 subdir('ozi_build')
diff --git a/ozi_build/buildapi.py b/ozi_build/buildapi.py
index ff4b958..858d705 100644
--- a/ozi_build/buildapi.py
+++ b/ozi_build/buildapi.py
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ def _parse_project_optional_dependencies(self, k: str, v: str):
         if any(i not in string.ascii_uppercase + string.ascii_lowercase + '-[],0123456789' for i in v):
             raise ValueError('pyproject.toml:project.optional-dependencies has invalid character in nested key "{}"'.format(k))
         for j in (name for name in v.strip('[]').split(',')):
-            if j[0] in string.ascii_uppercase + string.ascii_lowercase:
+            if len(j) > 0 and j[0] in string.ascii_uppercase + string.ascii_lowercase:
                 for package in self.__extras.get(j, []):
                     metadata += 'Requires-Dist: {}; extra=="{}"\n'.format(package, k)
             else: