diff --git a/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS b/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
index e00e1d08..50ae559e 100644
--- a/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
+++ b/doc/FUTURE_IDEAS
@@ -526,3 +526,51 @@ parallel -a table_file.tsv --colsep '\t' mycmd -o {2} {3} -i {1}
 
 # Run traceroute in parallel, but keep the output order the same
 parallel -k traceroute ::: foss.org.my debian.org freenetproject.org
+
+
+Test of signal passing through ssh
+#!/bin/bash
+
+SERVER1=parallel-server3
+SERVER2=parallel-server2
+
+export BG_PROC
+
+start_remote_sleep() {
+  parallel -D -u -S parallel@$SERVER2 sleep ::: 370 &
+  BG_PROC=$!
+  while ! ssh parallel@$SERVER2 ps -A -o cmd | grep -q '^sleep 370' ; do
+    sleep 0.3
+  done
+}
+
+stop_local_parallel() {
+  kill -9 $BG_PROC
+}
+
+check_and_stop_remote_sleep() {
+  ssh parallel@$SERVER2 ps -A -o cmd | grep '^sleep 370' 
+  ssh parallel@$SERVER2 killall sleep
+}
+
+echo '### Test kill signals'
+start_remote_sleep 2>/dev/null
+kill -1 $BG_PROC
+check_and_stop_remote_sleep
+
+sub propagate_signal {
+    my $signal = shift;
+#    $signal = "KILL";
+    ::debug("Sending $signal to ",keys %Global::running);
+    kill $signal, keys %Global::running;
+    if(defined $Global::original_sig{$signal}) {
+	&{$Global::original_sig{$signal}};
+    }
+}
+
+my %do_not_propagate = map { $_ => 1 } qw(TTOU TTIN CONT TSTP __WARN__ __DIE__);
+for (keys %SIG) {
+    $do_not_propagate{$_} and next;
+    $SIG{$_} = eval 'sub { propagate_signal("'.$_.'"); };';
+}
+
diff --git a/src/parallel b/src/parallel
index b3779df2..78315f75 100755
--- a/src/parallel
+++ b/src/parallel
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ use strict;
 use Carp;
 
 $::oodebug=0;
-$Global::original_sigterm = $SIG{TERM} || sub { exit 0; }; # $SIG{TERM} is not set on Mac OS X
+$SIG{TERM} ||= sub { exit 0; }; # $SIG{TERM} is not set on Mac OS X
+%Global::original_sig = %SIG;
 $SIG{TERM} = sub {}; # Dummy until jobs really start
 open $Global::original_stderr, ">&STDERR" or die "Can't dup STDERR: $!";
 
@@ -428,8 +429,8 @@ sub parse_options {
         $Global::replace{'{/.}'} = $::opt_basenameextensionreplace;
     }
     if(defined $::opt_E and $::opt_E) { $Global::end_of_file_string = $::opt_E; }
-    if(defined $::opt_n and $::opt_n) { $Global::max_number_of_args = $::opt_n; }
-    if(defined $::opt_N and $::opt_N) { $Global::max_number_of_args = $::opt_N; }
+    if(defined $::opt_n) { $Global::max_number_of_args = $::opt_n; }
+    if(defined $::opt_N) { $Global::max_number_of_args = $::opt_N; }
     if(defined $::opt_tmpdir) { $ENV{'TMPDIR'} = $::opt_tmpdir; }
     if(defined $::opt_help) { die_usage(); }
     if(defined $::opt_colsep) { $Global::trim = 'lr'; }
@@ -483,9 +484,14 @@ sub parse_options {
 	    $Global::arg_sep = "--";
 	}
     }
-    if(defined $::opt_L and $::opt_L or defined $::opt_l) {
-        $Global::max_lines = $::opt_l || $::opt_L || 1;
-        $Global::max_number_of_args ||= $Global::max_lines;
+    for my $nlines ($::opt_L, $::opt_l) {
+	if(defined $nlines) {
+	    if($nlines eq "") {
+		$nlines = 1;
+	    }
+	    $Global::max_lines = $nlines;
+	    $Global::max_number_of_args ||= $Global::max_lines;
+	}
     }
     %Global::replace_rev = reverse %Global::replace;
 
@@ -1360,7 +1366,7 @@ sub list_running_jobs {
 
 sub start_no_new_jobs {
     # Returns: N/A
-    $SIG{TERM} = $Global::original_sigterm;
+    $SIG{TERM} = $Global::original_sig{TERM};
     print $Global::original_stderr
         ("$Global::progname: SIGTERM received. No new jobs will be started.\n",
          "$Global::progname: Waiting for these ", scalar(keys %Global::running),
@@ -1903,7 +1909,7 @@ sub processes_available_by_system_limit {
         } elsif(defined $child) {
             # The child takes one process slot
             # It will be killed later
-            $SIG{TERM} = $Global::original_sigterm;
+            $SIG{TERM} = $Global::original_sig{TERM};
             sleep 10000000;
             exit(0);
         } else {
@@ -2067,17 +2073,15 @@ sub ncpus {
             my $ncpu;
             if($::opt_use_cpus_instead_of_cores) {
                 $ncpu = qx(echo|$sshcmd $serverlogin parallel --number-of-cpus);
-                chomp($ncpu);
             } else {
                 $ncpu = qx(echo|$sshcmd $serverlogin parallel --number-of-cores);
-                chomp($ncpu);
             }
-            if($ncpu =~ /^[0-9]+$/) {
+            if($ncpu =~ /^\s*[0-9]+\s*$/s) {
                 $self->{'ncpus'} = $ncpu;
             } else {
                 print $Global::original_stderr
                     ("parallel: Warning: Could not figure out ",
-                     "number of cpus on $serverlogin. Using 1\n");
+                     "number of cpus on $serverlogin ($ncpu). Using 1\n");
                 $self->{'ncpus'} = 1;
             }
         }
@@ -3651,12 +3655,20 @@ sub new {
 }
 
 sub get {
+    # Returns:
+    #   reference to array of Arg-objects
     my $self = shift;
     if(@{$self->{'unget'}}) {
 	return shift @{$self->{'unget'}};
     }
     $self->{'arg_number'}++;
-    return $self->{'arg_sub_queue'}->get();
+    my $ret = $self->{'arg_sub_queue'}->get();
+    if(defined $Global::max_number_of_args
+       and $Global::max_number_of_args == 0) {
+	return [];
+    } else {
+	return $ret;
+    }
 }
 
 sub unget {
@@ -3693,6 +3705,8 @@ sub new {
 }
 
 sub get {
+    # Returns:
+    #   reference to array of Arg-objects
     my $self = shift;
     if(@{$self->{'unget'}}) {
 	return shift @{$self->{'unget'}};
diff --git a/testsuite/tests-to-run/test51.sh b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test51.sh
index cfe14362..06703937 100644
--- a/testsuite/tests-to-run/test51.sh
+++ b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test51.sh
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ seq 1 9 | parallel -j2 -k -N 3 --pipe 'cat;echo iiiiiiiii;sleep 0.1'
 seq 1 10 | parallel -j2 -k -N 3 --pipe 'cat;echo jjjjjjjjjj;sleep 0.1'
 
 echo '### Test -l -N -L and -n with multiple jobslots and multiple args'
-seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -l 2 --pipe cat \; echo a
-seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -N 2 --pipe cat \; echo b
-seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -L 2 --pipe cat \; echo c
-seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -n 2 --pipe cat \; echo d
+seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -l 2 --pipe "cat; echo a; sleep 0.1"
+seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -N 2 --pipe "cat; echo b; sleep 0.1"
+seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -L 2 --pipe "cat; echo c; sleep 0.1"
+seq 1 5 | parallel -kj2 -n 2 --pipe "cat; echo d; sleep 0.1"
 
 echo '### Test output is the same for different block size'
 echo -n 01a02a0a0a12a34a45a6a |
diff --git a/testsuite/tests-to-run/test53.sh b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test53.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8f0c889
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/tests-to-run/test53.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo '### Test 0-arguments'
+seq 1 2 | parallel -n0 echo n0
+seq 1 2 | parallel -L0 echo L0
+seq 1 2 | parallel -l0 echo l0
+seq 1 2 | parallel -N0 echo N0
diff --git a/testsuite/wanted-results/test51 b/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
index 7143b0b2..079ccf5e 100644
--- a/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
+++ b/testsuite/wanted-results/test51
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ c
 c
 5
 c
+c
 1
 2
 d
diff --git a/testsuite/wanted-results/test53 b/testsuite/wanted-results/test53
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..87fdfe31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/wanted-results/test53
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+### Test 0-arguments
+n0
+n0
+L0
+L0
+l0
+l0
+N0
+N0