Index: bin/emerge
===================================================================
--- bin/emerge	(revision 5464)
+++ bin/emerge	(revision 5465)
@@ -744,6 +744,7 @@
 					mycounter = long(metadata["COUNTER"])
 				except ValueError:
 					mycounter = 0
+					metadata["COUNTER"] = str(mycounter)
 				other_counter = slot_counters.get(myslot_atom, None)
 				if other_counter is not None:
 					if other_counter > mycounter: