* str2time() will happily parse "\n" and similar; the result will be
  undistinguishable from a valid timestamp. Avoid this by skipping
  whitespace before and checking if anything remains first.

* Always parse timestamps in patch headers relative to the local timezone
  or UTC so that pch_timestamp() will always contain reasonable values
  if a timestamp is present: we may need the timestamps later.

* Change the bizarre logic which checks whether a timestamp is close to
  the epoch by checking for exactly that. The result is the same, and we
  won't have to parse the timestamp again.

---
 util.c |   26 ++++++++++++--------------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

Index: b/util.c
===================================================================
--- a/util.c
+++ b/util.c
@@ -996,25 +996,23 @@ fetchname (char *at, int strip_leading, 
 	    if (*u != '\t' && strchr (u + 1, '\t'))
 	      continue;
 
-	    if (set_time | set_utc)
-	      stamp = str2time (&u, initial_time,
-				set_utc ? 0L : TM_LOCAL_ZONE);
-	    else
-	      {
+	    while (ISSPACE((unsigned char) *u))
+		u++;
+	    if (*u) {
+		stamp = str2time (&u, initial_time,
+				  set_utc ? 0L : TM_LOCAL_ZONE);
+
 		/* The head says the file is nonexistent if the timestamp
 		   is the epoch; but the listed time is local time, not UTC,
 		   and POSIX.1 allows local time offset anywhere in the range
-		   -25:00 < offset < +26:00.  Match any time in that
-		   range by assuming local time is -25:00 and then matching
-		   any ``local'' time T in the range 0 < T < 25+26 hours.  */
-		stamp = str2time (&u, initial_time, -25L * 60 * 60);
-		if (0 < stamp && stamp < (25 + 26) * 60L * 60)
+		   -25:00 < offset < +26:00.  Match any time in that range. */
+		if (!(set_time || set_utc)
+		    && 25 * 60L * 60 < stamp && stamp < 26 * 60L * 60)
 		  stamp = 0;
-	      }
-
-	    if (*u && ! ISSPACE ((unsigned char) *u))
-	      stamp = (time_t) -1;
 
+		if (*u && ! ISSPACE ((unsigned char) *u))
+		  stamp = (time_t) -1;
+	    }
 	    *t = '\0';
 	    break;
 	  }