diff --git a/contrib/generate_precompile.jl b/contrib/generate_precompile.jl
index 06166a9726930..28be1a992efda 100644
--- a/contrib/generate_precompile.jl
+++ b/contrib/generate_precompile.jl
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # This file is a part of Julia. License is MIT: https://julialang.org/license
 
-if isempty(Base.ARGS) || Base.ARGS[1] !== "0"
+if Base.isempty(Base.ARGS) || Base.ARGS[1] !== "0"
 Sys.__init_build()
 # Prevent this from being put into the Main namespace
 @eval Module() begin
diff --git a/test/misc.jl b/test/misc.jl
index e069267ae3bed..30369830cf04b 100644
--- a/test/misc.jl
+++ b/test/misc.jl
@@ -912,3 +912,6 @@ end
 @testset "issue #28188" begin
     @test `$(@__FILE__)` == let file = @__FILE__; `$file` end
 end
+
+# issue #41656
+@test success(`$(Base.julia_cmd()) -e 'isempty(x) = true'`)