diff -r ab4432daf69f Lib/doctest.py
--- a/Lib/doctest.py	Mon Oct 22 21:50:27 2012 -0700
+++ b/Lib/doctest.py	Tue Oct 23 14:53:02 2012 +0300
@@ -2321,7 +2321,8 @@
     """
 
     if test_finder is None:
-        test_finder = DocTestFinder()
+        # By default, create empty tests for files without docstrings
+        test_finder = DocTestFinder(exclude_empty=False)
 
     module = _normalize_module(module)
     tests = test_finder.find(module, globs=globs, extraglobs=extraglobs)
@@ -2336,9 +2337,7 @@
         # otherwise be hidden.
         # It is probably a bug that this exception is not also raised if the
         # number of doctest examples in tests is zero (i.e. if no doctest
-        # examples were found).  However, we should probably not be raising
-        # an exception at all here, though it is too late to make this change
-        # for a maintenance release.  See also issue #14649.
+        # examples were found). See also issue #14649.
         raise ValueError(module, "has no docstrings")
 
     tests.sort()
diff -r ab4432daf69f Lib/test/test_doctest.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_doctest.py	Mon Oct 22 21:50:27 2012 -0700
+++ b/Lib/test/test_doctest.py	Tue Oct 23 14:53:02 2012 +0300
@@ -1992,25 +1992,25 @@
          >>> suite.run(unittest.TestResult())
          <unittest.result.TestResult run=0 errors=0 failures=0>
 
-       However, if DocTestSuite finds no docstrings, it raises an error:
+       The module need not contain any docstrings either:
 
+         >>> suite = doctest.DocTestSuite('test.sample_doctest_no_docstrings')
+         >>> suite.run(unittest.TestResult())
+         <unittest.result.TestResult run=0 errors=0 failures=0>
+
+       If you want an error in this case, you can pass a DocTestFinder
+       instance without the `exclude_empty` keyword argument set to False:
+
+         >>> finder = doctest.DocTestFinder()
          >>> try:
-         ...     doctest.DocTestSuite('test.sample_doctest_no_docstrings')
+         ...     doctest.DocTestSuite('test.sample_doctest_no_docstrings',
+         ...                          test_finder=finder)
          ... except ValueError as e:
          ...     error = e
 
          >>> print(error.args[1])
          has no docstrings
 
-       You can prevent this error by passing a DocTestFinder instance with
-       the `exclude_empty` keyword argument set to False:
-
-         >>> finder = doctest.DocTestFinder(exclude_empty=False)
-         >>> suite = doctest.DocTestSuite('test.sample_doctest_no_docstrings',
-         ...                              test_finder=finder)
-         >>> suite.run(unittest.TestResult())
-         <unittest.result.TestResult run=0 errors=0 failures=0>
-
        We can use the current module:
 
          >>> suite = test.sample_doctest.test_suite()