diff --git a/libc/malloc_debug/README.md b/libc/malloc_debug/README.md
index d9eb782..b3742cb 100644
--- a/libc/malloc_debug/README.md
+++ b/libc/malloc_debug/README.md
@@ -4,9 +4,18 @@
 Malloc debug is a method of debugging native memory problems. It can help
 detect memory corruption, memory leaks, and use after free issues.
 
-Currently, malloc debug requires root to enable. When it is enabled, it works
-by adding a shim layer that replaces the normal allocation calls. The replaced
-calls are:
+This documentation describes how to enable this feature on Android N or later
+versions of the Android OS.
+
+The documentation for malloc debug on older versions of Android is
+[here](README_marshmallow_and_earlier.md).
+
+In order to enable malloc debug, you must be able to set special system
+properties using the setprop command from the shell. This requires the
+ability to run as root on the device.
+
+When malloc debug is enabled, it works by adding a shim layer that replaces
+the normal allocation calls. The replaced calls are:
 
 * `malloc`
 * `free`
diff --git a/libc/malloc_debug/README_marshmallow_and_earlier.md b/libc/malloc_debug/README_marshmallow_and_earlier.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3513711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libc/malloc_debug/README_marshmallow_and_earlier.md
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+Malloc Debug
+============
+
+Malloc debug is a method of debugging native memory problems. It can help
+detect memory corruption, memory leaks, and use after free issues.
+
+This documentation describes how to enable this feature on versions of
+the Android OS, Marshmallow or older. Note: malloc debug was full of bugs
+and was not fully functional until KitKat, so using it on a version older
+than that is not guaranteed to work at all.
+
+The documentation for malloc debug on newer versions of Android is
+[here](README.md).
+
+On these old versions of the OS, you must be able to set system properties
+using the setprop command from the shell. This requires the ability to
+run as root on the device.
+
+When malloc debug is enabled, it works by adding a shim layer that replaces
+the normal allocation calls. The replaced calls are:
+
+* `malloc`
+* `free`
+* `calloc`
+* `realloc`
+* `posix_memalign`
+* `memalign`
+* `malloc_usable_size`
+
+On 32 bit systems, these two deprecated functions are also replaced:
+
+* `pvalloc`
+* `valloc`
+
+Any errors detected by the library are reported in the log.
+
+Controlling Malloc Debug Behavior
+---------------------------------
+Malloc debug is controlled by a system property that takes a numeric value
+named libc.debug.malloc. It has only a few distinct modes that enables a
+set of different malloc debug checks at once.
+
+Value 1
+--------
+When enabled, this value creates a special header to all allocations
+that contains information about the allocation.
+
+### Backtrace at Allocation Creation
+Enable capturing the backtrace of each allocation site. Only the
+first 16 frames of the backtrace will be captured.
+This option will slow down allocations by an order of magnitude, and
+might cause timeouts when trying to start a device.
+
+### Track Live Allocations
+All of the currently live allocations will be tracked and can be retrieved
+by a call to get\_malloc\_leak\_info (see README\_api.md for details).
+
+Note: If multiple allocations have the same exact backtrace, then only one
+entry is returned in the list.
+
+Value 5
+-------
+When enabled, this value does not create a special header. It only modifies
+the content of allocations.
+
+Whenever an allocation is created, initialize the data with a known
+pattern (0xeb). This does not happen for the calloc calls.
+Whenever an allocation is freed, write a known pattern over the data (0xef).
+
+Value 10
+--------
+When enabled, this value creates a special header to all allocations
+that contains information about the allocation.
+
+This value enables everything enabled with value 1 plus these other options.
+
+### Allocation Guards
+A 32 byte buffer is placed before the returned allocation (known as
+a front guard). This buffer is filled with the pattern (0xaa). In addition,
+a 32 byte buffer is placed after the data for the returned allocation (known
+as a rear guard). This buffer is filled with the pattern (0xbb).
+
+When the allocation is freed, both of these guards are verified to contain
+the expected patterns. If not, then an error message is printed to the log.
+
+### Free Memory Tracking
+When a pointer is freed, do not free the memory right away, but add it to
+a list of freed allocations. In addition to being added to the list, the
+entire allocation is filled with the value 0xef, and the backtrace at
+the time of the free is recorded. As with the backtrace on allocation,
+only up to 16 frames will be recorded.
+
+When the list of freed allocations reaches 100, the oldest allocation
+on the list is removed and verified that it still contains the pattern 0xef.
+If the entire allocation is not filled with this value, an error is printed
+to the log.
+
+### Log Leaks
+When the program completes, all of the allocations that are still live
+are printed to the log as leaks. This isn't very useful since it tends
+to display a lot of false positive because many programs do not free
+everything before terminating.
+
+Option 20
+---------
+Do not use this option value, it only works on the emulator. It has not
+been verified, so it may or may not work.
+
+Enable on Certain Processes
+---------------------------
+Using the special system property, libc.debug.malloc.program, will
+cause malloc debug to only be used on processes with that name. For example,
+if the property is set to ls, then only the program named ls will have malloc
+debug enabled.
+
+Examples
+========
+Enable malloc debug for all allocations for all processes:
+
+    adb shell stop
+    adb shell setprop libc.debug.malloc 1
+    adb shell start
+
+Enable malloc debug for a particular process:
+
+    adb shell setprop libc.debug.malloc.program ls
+    adb shell setprop libc.debug.malloc 10
+    adb shell ls /data/local/tmp
diff --git a/linker/linker.cpp b/linker/linker.cpp
index 719b00a..9eb3a65 100644
--- a/linker/linker.cpp
+++ b/linker/linker.cpp
@@ -475,6 +475,9 @@
   if (path != nullptr) {
     // We have historically supported ':' as well as ' ' in LD_PRELOAD.
     g_ld_preload_names = android::base::Split(path, " :");
+    std::remove_if(g_ld_preload_names.begin(),
+                   g_ld_preload_names.end(),
+                   [] (const std::string& s) { return s.empty(); });
   }
 }