On 2010-04-12 19:32 +0100, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>> It seems to make it more difficult for editing (edit-abbrevs) because
>> the buffer is full of empty abbrev.  I wonder if saving only non-empty
>> tables is better and user friendlier.
>
> It does sound like a good idea.  Any objection?

Would the following patch be acceptable?

* lisp/abbrev.el (write-abbrev-file prepare-abbrev-list-buffer):
ignore empty abbrev tables
  (abbrev-table-empty-p): new function.