diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 85793fbc18..9474645544 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 
+2.0-beta-69 | 2011-11-29 16:55:31 -0800
+
+  * Fixing ASCII logger to escape the unset-field place holder if
+    written out literally. (Robin Sommer)
+
 2.0-beta-68 | 2011-11-29 15:23:12 -0800
 
   * Lots of documentation polishing. (Jon Siwek)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 1d512c0f18..0ce06b2179 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.0-beta-68
+2.0-beta-69
diff --git a/src/LogWriterAscii.cc b/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
index 9fc71789d8..5bd476c936 100644
--- a/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
+++ b/src/LogWriterAscii.cc
@@ -200,10 +200,33 @@ bool LogWriterAscii::DoWriteOne(ODesc* desc, LogVal* val, const LogField* field)
 	case TYPE_FUNC:
 		{
 		int size = val->val.string_val->size();
-		if ( size )
-			desc->AddN(val->val.string_val->data(), val->val.string_val->size());
-		else
+		const char* data = val->val.string_val->data();
+
+		if ( ! size )
+			{
 			desc->AddN(empty_field, empty_field_len);
+			break;
+			}
+
+		if ( size == unset_field_len && memcmp(data, unset_field, size) == 0 )
+			{
+			// The value we'd write out would match exactly the
+			// place-holder we use for unset optional fields. We
+			// escape the first character so that the output
+			// won't be ambigious.
+			static const char hex_chars[] = "0123456789abcdef";
+			char hex[6] = "\\x00";
+			hex[2] = hex_chars[((*data) & 0xf0) >> 4];
+			hex[3] = hex_chars[(*data) & 0x0f];
+			desc->AddRaw(hex, 4);
+
+			++data;
+			--size;
+			}
+
+		if ( size )
+			desc->AddN(data, size);
+
 		break;
 		}
 
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/scripts.base.frameworks.logging.ascii-escape-notset-str/test.log b/testing/btest/Baseline/scripts.base.frameworks.logging.ascii-escape-notset-str/test.log
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..683fed60f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/scripts.base.frameworks.logging.ascii-escape-notset-str/test.log
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#separator \x09
+#path	test
+#fields	x	y	z
+#types	string	string	string
+\x2d	-	-
diff --git a/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/ascii-escape-notset-str.bro b/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/ascii-escape-notset-str.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8c1401b179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/scripts/base/frameworks/logging/ascii-escape-notset-str.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b %INPUT 
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff test.log
+
+module Test;
+
+export {
+	redef enum Log::ID += { LOG };
+
+	type Log: record {
+		x: string &optional;
+		y: string &optional;
+		z: string &optional;
+	} &log;
+}
+
+event bro_init()
+{
+	Log::create_stream(Test::LOG, [$columns=Log]);
+	Log::write(Test::LOG, [$x=LogAscii::unset_field, $z=""]);
+}
+
+