diff -r 5b2a3bb06cef -r 7f78a4137f8f mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py	Sat Oct 01 21:49:04 2011 -0400
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py	Sat Oct 01 21:51:25 2011 -0400
@@ -3372,11 +3372,11 @@
         lock = repo.lock()
         parents = repo.parents()
         for patchurl in patches:
-            patchurl = os.path.join(base, patchurl)
             if patchurl == '-':
                 ui.status(_('applying patch from stdin\n'))
                 patchfile = ui.fin
             else:
+                patchurl = os.path.join(base, patchurl)
                 ui.status(_('applying %s\n') % patchurl)
                 patchfile = url.open(ui, patchurl)