--- ./doc/texinfo.tex	Thu May  1 01:55:46 2003
+++ ./doc/texinfo.tex	Fri May  2 09:06:25 2003
@@ -2146,6 +2146,7 @@
 \ifdim \parskip=0pt \parskip=2pt \fi%
 \def#2{\endgraf\afterenvbreak\endgroup}%
 \def\itemcontents{#1}%
+\ifx\itemcontents\empty\def\itemcontents{\bullet}\fi
 \let\item=\itemizeitem}
 
 % \splitoff TOKENS\endmark defines \first to be the first token in