diff --git a/src/Make.sh b/src/Make.sh
index 616cbbca30..3b8ef4c130 100644
--- a/src/Make.sh
+++ b/src/Make.sh
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ elif (test $1 = "Makefile.lib") then
   list=`ls -1 *.h | tr "[:cntrl:]" " "`
   sed -i -e "s/INC =	.*/INC =	$list/" Makefile.lib
 
-# edit Makefile.lib, for creating non-shared lib
-# called by "make makelib"
+# edit Makefile.shlib, for creating shared lib
+# called by "make makeshlib"
 # use current list of *.cpp and *.h files in src dir w/out main.cpp
 
 elif (test $1 = "Makefile.shlib") then
diff --git a/src/atom.cpp b/src/atom.cpp
index 44f82b2d3f..9368f692f3 100644
--- a/src/atom.cpp
+++ b/src/atom.cpp
@@ -272,9 +272,14 @@ void Atom::create_avec(const char *style, int narg, char **arg, char *suffix)
   rmass_flag = radius_flag = omega_flag = torque_flag = angmom_flag = 0;
   vfrac_flag = spin_flag = eradius_flag = ervel_flag = erforce_flag = 0;
 
+  // create instance of AtomVec
+  // use grow to initialize atom-based arrays to length 1
+  // so that x[0][0] can be referenced even if proc has no atoms
+
   int sflag;
   avec = new_avec(style,suffix,sflag);
   avec->settings(narg,arg);
+  avec->grow(1);
 
   if (sflag) {
     char estyle[256];
diff --git a/src/comm.cpp b/src/comm.cpp
index 92ec53de2d..8a7e13eb8c 100644
--- a/src/comm.cpp
+++ b/src/comm.cpp
@@ -854,7 +854,6 @@ void Comm::exchange()
     }
     atom->nlocal = nlocal;
 
-
     // send/recv atoms in both directions
     // if 1 proc in dimension, no send/recv, set recv buf to send buf
     // if 2 procs in dimension, single send/recv