diff --git a/cpp/doxygen/developer_guide/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md b/cpp/doxygen/developer_guide/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
index 311539efbfc..1c1052487f2 100644
--- a/cpp/doxygen/developer_guide/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
+++ b/cpp/doxygen/developer_guide/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
@@ -1483,6 +1483,17 @@ struct, and therefore `cudf::struct_view` is the data type of a `cudf::column` o
 
 `cudf::type_dispatcher` dispatches to the `struct_view` data type when invoked on a `STRUCT` column.
 
+# Empty Columns
+
+The libcudf columns support empty, typed content. These columns have no data and no validity mask.
+Empty strings or lists columns may or may not contain a child offsets column.
+It is undefined behavior (UB) to access the offsets child of an empty strings or lists column.
+Nested columns like lists and structs may require other children columns to provide the
+nested structure of the empty types.
+
+Use `cudf::make_empty_column()` to create fixed-width and strings columns.
+Use `cudf::empty_like()` to create an empty column from an existing `cudf::column_view`.
+
 # cuIO: file reading and writing
 
 cuIO is a component of libcudf that provides GPU-accelerated reading and writing of data file
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/HostMemoryBuffer.java b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/HostMemoryBuffer.java
index d792459901c..bfb959b12c1 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/HostMemoryBuffer.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/HostMemoryBuffer.java
@@ -255,8 +255,10 @@ public final void copyFromHostBuffer(long destOffset, HostMemoryBuffer srcData,
    * @param destOffset  offset in bytes in this buffer to start copying to
    * @param in input stream to copy bytes from
    * @param byteLength number of bytes to copy
+   * @throws EOFException If there are not enough bytes in the stream to copy.
+   * @throws IOException If there is an error reading from the stream.
    */
-  final void copyFromStream(long destOffset, InputStream in, long byteLength) throws IOException {
+  public final void copyFromStream(long destOffset, InputStream in, long byteLength) throws IOException {
     addressOutOfBoundsCheck(address + destOffset, byteLength, "copy from stream");
     byte[] arrayBuffer = new byte[(int) Math.min(1024 * 128, byteLength)];
     long left = byteLength;
@@ -264,7 +266,7 @@ final void copyFromStream(long destOffset, InputStream in, long byteLength) thro
       int amountToCopy = (int) Math.min(arrayBuffer.length, left);
       int amountRead = in.read(arrayBuffer, 0, amountToCopy);
       if (amountRead < 0) {
-        throw new EOFException();
+        throw new EOFException("Unexpected end of stream, expected " + left + " more bytes");
       }
       setBytes(destOffset, arrayBuffer, 0, amountRead);
       destOffset += amountRead;