diff --git a/pkg/compiler/artifact.go b/pkg/compiler/artifact.go
index dd288a81..5a087ea1 100644
--- a/pkg/compiler/artifact.go
+++ b/pkg/compiler/artifact.go
@@ -290,15 +290,27 @@ func (a *PackageArtifact) GenerateFinalImage(imageName string, b CompilerBackend
 		return builderOpts, errors.Wrap(err, "error met while creating tempdir for "+a.Path)
 	}
 
+	if err := a.Unpack(uncompressedFiles, keepPerms); err != nil {
+		return builderOpts, errors.Wrap(err, "error met while uncompressing artifact "+a.Path)
+	}
+
+	empty, err := helpers.DirectoryIsEmpty(uncompressedFiles)
+	if err != nil {
+		return builderOpts, errors.Wrap(err, "error met while checking if directory is empty "+uncompressedFiles)
+	}
+
+	// See https://github.com/moby/moby/issues/38039.
+	// We can't generate FROM scratch empty images. Docker will refuse to export them
+	// workaround: Inject a .virtual empty file
+	if empty {
+		helpers.Touch(filepath.Join(uncompressedFiles, ".virtual"))
+	}
+
 	data := a.genDockerfile()
 	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(dockerFile, []byte(data), 0644); err != nil {
 		return builderOpts, errors.Wrap(err, "error met while rendering artifact dockerfile "+a.Path)
 	}
 
-	if err := a.Unpack(uncompressedFiles, keepPerms); err != nil {
-		return builderOpts, errors.Wrap(err, "error met while uncompressing artifact "+a.Path)
-	}
-
 	builderOpts = CompilerBackendOptions{
 		ImageName:      imageName,
 		SourcePath:     archive,
diff --git a/pkg/compiler/artifact_test.go b/pkg/compiler/artifact_test.go
index 66b9513a..3aad23b4 100644
--- a/pkg/compiler/artifact_test.go
+++ b/pkg/compiler/artifact_test.go
@@ -203,6 +203,44 @@ RUN echo bar > /test2`))
 			Expect(content).To(Equal(testString))
 		})
 
+		It("Generates empty packages images", func() {
+			b := NewSimpleDockerBackend()
+			imageprefix := "foo/"
+
+			tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir(os.TempDir(), "artifact")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir) // clean up
+
+			tmpWork, err := ioutil.TempDir(os.TempDir(), "artifact2")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(tmpWork) // clean up
+
+			artifact := NewPackageArtifact(filepath.Join(tmpWork, "fake.tar"))
+			artifact.SetCompileSpec(&LuetCompilationSpec{Package: &pkg.DefaultPackage{Name: "foo", Version: "1.0"}})
+
+			err = artifact.Compress(tmpdir, 1)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			resultingImage := imageprefix + "foo--1.0"
+			opts, err := artifact.GenerateFinalImage(resultingImage, b, false)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(opts.ImageName).To(Equal(resultingImage))
+
+			Expect(b.ImageExists(resultingImage)).To(BeTrue())
+
+			result, err := ioutil.TempDir(os.TempDir(), "result")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(result) // clean up
+
+			err = b.ExtractRootfs(CompilerBackendOptions{ImageName: resultingImage, Destination: result}, false)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(helpers.DirectoryIsEmpty(result)).To(BeFalse())
+			content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(result, ".virtual"))
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(string(content)).To(Equal(""))
+		})
+
 		It("Retrieves uncompressed name", func() {
 			a := NewPackageArtifact("foo.tar.gz")
 			a.SetCompressionType(compiler.GZip)
diff --git a/pkg/installer/repository_test.go b/pkg/installer/repository_test.go
index eaa98d99..18568e0e 100644
--- a/pkg/installer/repository_test.go
+++ b/pkg/installer/repository_test.go
@@ -315,5 +315,82 @@ urls:
 			Expect(a.Unpack(extracted, false)).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 			Expect(helpers.Read(filepath.Join(extracted, "test6"))).To(Equal("artifact6\n"))
 		})
+
+		It("generates images of virtual packages", func() {
+			b := backend.NewSimpleDockerBackend()
+			tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "tree")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir) // clean up
+
+			generalRecipe := tree.NewCompilerRecipe(pkg.NewInMemoryDatabase(false))
+
+			err = generalRecipe.Load("../../tests/fixtures/virtuals")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(len(generalRecipe.GetDatabase().GetPackages())).To(Equal(5))
+
+			localcompiler := compiler.NewLuetCompiler(backend.NewSimpleDockerBackend(), generalRecipe.GetDatabase(), compiler.NewDefaultCompilerOptions(), solver.Options{Type: solver.SingleCoreSimple})
+
+			spec, err := localcompiler.FromPackage(&pkg.DefaultPackage{Name: "a", Category: "test", Version: "1.99"})
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(spec.GetPackage().GetPath()).ToNot(Equal(""))
+
+			tmpdir, err = ioutil.TempDir("", "tree")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(tmpdir) // clean up
+
+			spec.SetOutputPath(tmpdir)
+			localcompiler.SetConcurrency(1)
+
+			artifact, err := localcompiler.Compile(false, spec)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(helpers.Exists(artifact.GetPath())).To(BeTrue())
+			Expect(helpers.Untar(artifact.GetPath(), tmpdir, false)).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			repo, err := dockerStubRepo(tmpdir, "../../tests/fixtures/virtuals", repoImage, true, true)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(repo.GetName()).To(Equal("test"))
+			Expect(helpers.Exists(spec.Rel(REPOSITORY_SPECFILE))).ToNot(BeTrue())
+			Expect(helpers.Exists(spec.Rel(TREE_TARBALL + ".gz"))).ToNot(BeTrue())
+			Expect(helpers.Exists(spec.Rel(REPOSITORY_METAFILE + ".tar"))).ToNot(BeTrue())
+			err = repo.Write(repoImage, false, true)
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(b.ImageAvailable(fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", repoImage, "tree.tar.gz"))).To(BeTrue())
+			Expect(b.ImageAvailable(fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", repoImage, "repository.meta.yaml.tar"))).To(BeTrue())
+			Expect(b.ImageAvailable(fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", repoImage, "repository.yaml"))).To(BeTrue())
+			Expect(b.ImageAvailable(fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", repoImage, "a-test-1.99"))).To(BeTrue())
+
+			extracted, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "extracted")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			defer os.RemoveAll(extracted) // clean up
+
+			c := repo.Client()
+
+			f, err := c.DownloadFile("repository.yaml")
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(helpers.Read(f)).To(ContainSubstring("name: test"))
+
+			a, err := c.DownloadArtifact(&compiler.PackageArtifact{
+				Path: "test.tar",
+				CompileSpec: &compiler.LuetCompilationSpec{
+					Package: &pkg.DefaultPackage{
+						Name:     "a",
+						Category: "test",
+						Version:  "1.99",
+					},
+				},
+			})
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(a.Unpack(extracted, false)).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(helpers.DirectoryIsEmpty(extracted)).To(BeFalse())
+			content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(extracted, ".virtual"))
+			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+
+			Expect(string(content)).To(Equal(""))
+		})
 	})
 })