diff --git a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/Util.java b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/Util.java
index f5c51ed..a81f376 100644
--- a/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/Util.java
+++ b/fileinstall/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/Util.java
@@ -88,16 +88,10 @@
 
         // If we do not have a start or stop delimiter, then just
         // return the existing value.
-        if ((startDelim < 0) && (stopDelim < 0))
+        if ((startDelim < 0) || (stopDelim < 0))
         {
             return val;
         }
-        // At this point, we found a stop delimiter without a start,
-        // so throw an exception.
-        else if (((startDelim < 0) || (startDelim > stopDelim)) && (stopDelim >= 0))
-        {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("stop delimiter with no start delimiter: " + val);
-        }
 
         // At this point, we have found a variable placeholder so
         // we must perform a variable substitution on it.
diff --git a/fileinstall/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/UtilTest.java b/fileinstall/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/UtilTest.java
index 4e55071..ca68a37 100644
--- a/fileinstall/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/UtilTest.java
+++ b/fileinstall/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/fileinstall/util/UtilTest.java
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@
 
     }
 
+    public void testSubstitutionFailures()
+    {
+        assertEquals("a}", Util.substVars("a}", "b", null, new Hashtable()));
+        assertEquals("${a", Util.substVars("${a", "b", null, new Hashtable()));
+    }
+
     public void testCanRecognizeInvalidJar()
     {
         assertFalse(Util.isValidJar("src/test/resources/watched/firstjar.jar"));