diff --git a/src/obidmscolumn.c b/src/obidmscolumn.c
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 794f5f3..91a42c1
--- a/src/obidmscolumn.c
+++ b/src/obidmscolumn.c
@@ -1149,7 +1149,7 @@ OBIDMS_column_p obi_create_column(OBIDMS_p     dms,
 	strncpy(header->name, column_name, OBIDMS_COLUMN_MAX_NAME);
 
 	// Comments must be a json string, even empty
-	if ((strcmp(comments, "") == 0) || (comments == NULL))
+	if ((comments == NULL) || (strcmp(comments, "") == 0))
 		comments_ok = obi_column_write_comments(new_column, "{}");
 	else
 		comments_ok = obi_column_write_comments(new_column, comments);