diff --git a/Lib/pydoc.py b/Lib/pydoc.py
--- a/Lib/pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/pydoc.py
@@ -264,17 +264,17 @@ def synopsis(filename, cache={}):
             # XXX We probably don't need to pass in the loader here.
             spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('__temp__', filename,
                                                           loader=loader)
             try:
                 module = importlib._bootstrap._load(spec)
             except:
                 return None
             del sys.modules['__temp__']
-            result = (module.__doc__ or '').splitlines()[0]
+            result = module.__doc__.splitlines()[0] if module.__doc__ else None
         # Cache the result.
         cache[filename] = (mtime, result)
     return result
 
 class ErrorDuringImport(Exception):
     """Errors that occurred while trying to import something to document it."""
     def __init__(self, filename, exc_info):
         self.filename = filename
@@ -2068,17 +2068,17 @@ class ModuleScanner:
                         path = None
                 else:
                     try:
                         module = importlib._bootstrap._load(spec)
                     except ImportError:
                         if onerror:
                             onerror(modname)
                         continue
-                    desc = (module.__doc__ or '').splitlines()[0]
+                    desc = module.__doc__.splitlines()[0] if module.__doc__ else ''
                     path = getattr(module,'__file__',None)
                 name = modname + ' - ' + desc
                 if name.lower().find(key) >= 0:
                     callback(path, modname, desc)
 
         if completer:
             completer()
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py b/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
 import os
 import sys
 import builtins
 import contextlib
+import importlib.util
 import inspect
 import pydoc
 import keyword
 import _pickle
 import pkgutil
+import py_compile
 import re
+import stat
 import string
 import test.support
 import time
 import types
 import unittest
 import urllib.parse
 import xml.etree
 import textwrap
@@ -538,16 +541,28 @@ class PydocDocTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_synopsis_sourceless(self):
         expected = os.__doc__.splitlines()[0]
         filename = os.__cached__
         synopsis = pydoc.synopsis(filename)
 
         self.assertEqual(synopsis, expected)
 
+    def test_synopsis_sourceless_empty_doc(self):
+        with test.support.temp_cwd() as test_dir:
+            init_path = os.path.join(test_dir, 'foomod42.py')
+            cached_path = importlib.util.cache_from_source(init_path)
+            with open(init_path, 'w') as fobj:
+                fobj.write("foo = 1")
+            py_compile.compile(init_path)
+            synopsis = pydoc.synopsis(init_path, {})
+            self.assertIsNone(synopsis)
+            synopsis_cached = pydoc.synopsis(cached_path, {})
+            self.assertIsNone(synopsis_cached)
+
     def test_splitdoc_with_description(self):
         example_string = "I Am A Doc\n\n\nHere is my description"
         self.assertEqual(pydoc.splitdoc(example_string),
                          ('I Am A Doc', '\nHere is my description'))
 
     def test_is_object_or_method(self):
         doc = pydoc.Doc()
         # Bound Method
@@ -651,16 +666,32 @@ class PydocImportTest(PydocBaseTest):
         with self.restrict_walk_packages(path=[TESTFN]):
             with captured_stdout() as out:
                 with captured_stderr() as err:
                     pydoc.apropos('SOMEKEY')
         # No result, no error
         self.assertEqual(out.getvalue(), '')
         self.assertEqual(err.getvalue(), '')
 
+    def test_apropos_empty_doc(self):
+        pkgdir = os.path.join(TESTFN, 'walkpkg')
+        os.mkdir(pkgdir)
+        self.addCleanup(rmtree, pkgdir)
+        init_path = os.path.join(pkgdir, '__init__.py')
+        with open(init_path, 'w') as fobj:
+            fobj.write("foo = 1")
+        current_mode = stat.S_IMODE(os.stat(pkgdir).st_mode)
+        try:
+            os.chmod(pkgdir, current_mode & ~stat.S_IEXEC)
+            with self.restrict_walk_packages(path=[TESTFN]), captured_stdout() as stdout:
+                pydoc.apropos('')
+            self.assertIn('walkpkg', stdout.getvalue())
+        finally:
+            os.chmod(pkgdir, current_mode)
+
     @unittest.skip('causes undesireable side-effects (#20128)')
     def test_modules(self):
         # See Helper.listmodules().
         num_header_lines = 2
         num_module_lines_min = 5  # Playing it safe.
         num_footer_lines = 3
         expected = num_header_lines + num_module_lines_min + num_footer_lines