diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/lsb.py b/meta/lib/oe/lsb.py
index 5a795a1..b9beaad 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/lsb.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/lsb.py
@@ -51,10 +51,12 @@ def release_dict_lsb():

 def release_dict_file():
     """ Try to gather release information manually when other methods fail """
-    data = None
+    data = {}
+    data['DISTRIB_ID'] = ""
+    data['DISTRIB_RELEASE'] = ""
+
     try:
         if os.path.exists('/etc/lsb-release'):
-            data = {}
             with open('/etc/lsb-release') as f:
                 for line in f:
                     key, value = line.split("=", 1)