bug#8009: 23.2.91; Ediff will not create new files

[Reuben Thomas]

When I give ediff the following patch file:

---cut here---
diff -Nur '--exclude=*.patch' '--exclude=*.[158]' '--exclude=configure' 
'--exclude=.git' at/.gitignore at-rrt/.gitignore
--- at/.gitignore       1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
+++ at-rrt/.gitignore   2011-02-08 23:24:11.000000000 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+/Makefile
+/at
+/*.1
+/*.5
+/*.8
+/*.o
+/atd
+/atq
+/atrm
+/atrun
+/batch
+/config.h
+/config.log
+/config.status
+/lex.yy.c
+/y.tab.*

---cut here---

ediff says:

Ediff has inferred that
        /home/rrt/repo/at/.gitignore
is assumed to be the target for this patch.  However, this file does not exist.

ediff is quite correct about the target for the patch, but of
course it doesn’t exist, it’s a file that is created by the patch.

However, I can’t see how to make ediff create the file. It seems to
require me to give it an existing file to patch.



In GNU Emacs 23.2.91.4 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.22.0)
 of 2011-01-13 on canta
Windowing system distributor `The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.10900000
Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: en_GB.UTF-8
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Fundamental

Minor modes in effect:
  shell-dirtrack-mode: t
  diff-auto-refine-mode: t
  recentf-mode: t
  show-paren-mode: t
  savehist-mode: t
  minibuffer-electric-default-mode: t
  iswitchb-mode: t
  icomplete-mode: t
  global-whitespace-mode: t
  global-auto-revert-mode: t
  desktop-save-mode: t
  yas/global-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Recent input:
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p <switch-frame> <switch-frame> <switch-frame> <switch-frame> 
C-s C-s C-s C-a C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n 
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p 
C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-p C-n C-x 5 0 
C-x k <return> C-x o C-x k <return> y e s <return> 
C-x 1 C-x k C-g M-x <up> <up> <return> y 0 0 0 1 <return> 
C-k <return> C-] C-] C-] C-] M-x r e p o r t - e m 
a c s - b u g <return> C-] C-] C-] C-] C-] C-] C-] 
C-] C-] C-] C-] C-] C-] M-x e d i f f - p a t c h - 
f i l e <return> y C-g M-x <up> <return> n <M-backspace> 
a t . <tab> <return> C-k a t / <return> C-g C-g C-g 
C-g C-x o C-SPC C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-p C-p 
C-w C-_ C-y M-x r e p o r t - b <backspace> e m a c 
s - b u g <return>

Recent messages:
Quit
call-interactively: No recursive edit is in progress [12 times]
Is the patch already in a buffer? (y or n) 
Quit
Is the patch already in a buffer? (y or n) 
Quit [4 times]
Reverting buffer `at.patch'.
Mark activated
undo-start: No undo information in this buffer
Mark set

Load-path shadows:
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/ruby-mode-1.1/ruby-mode hides 
/usr/share/emacs-snapshot/site-lisp/ruby1.8-elisp/ruby-mode
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/popup hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auto-complete/popup
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/fuzzy hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auto-complete/fuzzy
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/link hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/link
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/connection hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/connection
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary-init hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary-init
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/dictionary-1.8.7/dictionary hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/dictionary
/home/rrt/local/share/emacs/site-lisp/dict hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/emacs-goodies-el/dict
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/lisp/textmodes/css-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/ruby-mode-1.1/ruby-mode hides 
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/lisp/progmodes/ruby-mode
/home/rrt/.emacs.d/elpa/css-mode-1.0/css-mode hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/css-mode/css-mode
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-info
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-nl
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context-en hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context-en
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/latex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-mik
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/dictionary-el/lpath hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/lpath
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-buf
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-jp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-bar
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/multi-prompt
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fptex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-font
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-fold
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/texmathp
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/context hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/context
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/font-latex
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/bib-cite
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/toolbar-x
/usr/local/share/emacs/23.2.91/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style hides 
/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/auctex/tex-style

Features:
(newcomment shadow sort mail-extr message sendmail ecomplete rfc822 mml
mml-sec password-cache mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mailcap mail-parse
rfc2231 rfc2047 rfc2045 qp ietf-drums mailabbrev nnheader gnus-util
netrc time-date mm-util mail-prsvr gmm-utils mailheader canlock hashcash
mail-utils emacsbug ediff-ptch ediff-merg ediff-diff ediff-wind
ediff-help ediff-util ediff-mult ediff-init ediff tabify man remember
make-mode ansi-color shell vc-bzr sha1 hex-util vc-sccs vc-svn vc-cvs
vc-rcs vc-dir ewoc dired log-edit pcvs-util add-log diff-git diff-mode
vc vc-dispatcher descr-text help-mode view arc-mode archive-mode
dictionary link connection multi-isearch longlines vc-git info jka-compr
face-remap filladapt flyspell completing-help recentf tree-widget
wid-edit uniquify paren savehist minibuf-eldef iswitchb icomplete
whitespace autorevert time cus-start cus-load desktop server php-mode
etags cc-langs cc-mode cc-fonts cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align
cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs speedbar sb-image ezimage dframe lua-mode
regexp-opt comint ring ropemacs pymacs smart-quotes ffap ispell
etags-update auto-dictionary-autoloads css-mode-autoloads
dictionary-autoloads diff-git-autoloads dired-isearch-autoloads
full-ack-autoloads guess-style-autoloads js2-mode-autoloads
kill-ring-search-autoloads lambdacalc-autoloads magit-autoloads
mv-shell-autoloads ruby-mode-autoloads tumble-autoloads
http-post-simple-autoloads package reporter advice advice-preload
yasnippet help-fns derived edmacro kmacro easymenu assoc cl cl-19
muse-autoloads emacs-goodies-el emacs-goodies-custom
emacs-goodies-loaddefs easy-mmode bbdb-autoloads preview-latex tex-site
auto-loads tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel x-win
x-dnd font-setting tool-bar dnd fontset image fringe lisp-mode register
page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mldrag mouse jit-lock
font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang
misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew
greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese
case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev loaddefs button
minibuffer faces cus-face files text-properties overlay md5 base64
format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable
backquote make-network-process dbusbind system-font-setting
font-render-setting gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty emacs)

-- 
http://rrt.sc3d.org/