diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 100ea0d..a7ecd2f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@ dist/
 build/
 *.egg-info/
 distribute*.tar.gz
+
+*.swp
diff --git a/examples/genconf-manifest.yaml b/examples/genconf-manifest.yaml
index 3fbafb8..61d38d0 100644
--- a/examples/genconf-manifest.yaml
+++ b/examples/genconf-manifest.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ profiles:
           "debug": "true"
       output_files:
           - {target: "target/${profile}/otherdir/sometext", template: "templates/sometext", template_format: "genshi-text"}
+
     - name: "development"
       abstract: false
       extends: ["all"]
@@ -29,3 +30,5 @@ profiles:
           - {target: "target/willnotexist", template: "templates/not-found-template", template_format: "genshi-text"}
           - {target: "target/io-error", template: "templates/sometext", template_format: "genshi-text"}
           - {target: "target/syntax-error", template: "templates/syntax-error", template_format: "genshi-text"}
+
+    - name: "empty-profile"
diff --git a/genconf/manifest/_parser.py b/genconf/manifest/_parser.py
index 306fc98..d392e70 100644
--- a/genconf/manifest/_parser.py
+++ b/genconf/manifest/_parser.py
@@ -56,10 +56,10 @@ def get_profile(name):
                 
         def do_create_profile(data):
             p = Profile(name = data['name'], 
-                           is_abstract = data['abstract'],
-                           extends = map(get_profile, data['extends']),
-                           properties = data['properties'],
-                           output_files = map(create_output_file(lambda: p), data['output_files']),
+                           is_abstract = data.get('abstract', False),
+                           extends = map(get_profile, data.get('extends', [])),
+                           properties = data.get('properties', {}),
+                           output_files = map(create_output_file(lambda: p), data.get('output_files', [])),
                            overrides = project_overrides.get(data['name'], {}))
             created_profiles[p.name] = p
             return p
@@ -84,4 +84,4 @@ def parse(self, stream):
                 project_profiles[k] = v
                 
             overrides[project] = project_profiles
-        return overrides
\ No newline at end of file
+        return overrides