I have one project which is a branch of another.  I created a patch in the first
which removed a directory tree which both of them contain individually in
slightly modified states, this is what happened when I tried to pull the patch
from the 'root' repo downstream into the branch:

--

clive% darcs pull
Pulling from "../newt"...

Fri Feb 17 19:39:58 SAST 2006  Clive Crous <clive@darkarts.co.za>
  * remove artifacts
Shall I pull this patch? (1/1) [ynWvpxqadjk], or ? for help: y
darcs: bug in darcs!
in function reconcile_unwindings
Original patch:
merger 0.0 (
merger 0.0 (
hunk
./_artifacts/active/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
1
-2005-05-12 19:19:30 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za created
-2005-05-12 19:19:30 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za category bug
-2005-05-12 19:19:30 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za summary colouring for tty now
incorrect (los related)
-2005-05-12 19:19:30 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za assign clive@darkarts.co.za
-2005-05-12 19:19:39 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za activated 13
-2005-06-19 12:15:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za note this is a lizard bug, it does
not affect newt and shouldn't be here
-2005-06-19 12:15:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za closed
merger 0.0 (
hunk
./_artifacts/active/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
6
+2005-06-19 12:15:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za note this is a lizard bug, it does
not affect newt and shouldn't be here
+2005-06-19 12:15:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za closed
hunk
./_artifacts/active/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
6
+2005-06-19 12:09:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za note fixed
+2005-06-19 12:09:42 UCT clive@darkarts.co.za closed
)
)
merger 0.0 (
merger 0.0 (
merger 0.0 (
move
./_artifacts/pending/pending.fMz6li!clive@darkarts.co.za|feature|clive@darkarts.co.za|on\32\screen\32\indicator\32\for\32\when\32\monster\32\moves\32\are\32\busy,\32\hourglass\32\or\32\equivalent
./_artifacts/active/00000015|feature|clive@darkarts.co.za|on\32\screen\32\indicator\32\for\32\when\32\monster\32\moves\32\are\32\busy,\32\hourglass\32\or\32\equivalent
rmdir ./_artifacts/active
)
merger 0.0 (
move
./_artifacts/active/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
./_artifacts/closed/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
move
./_artifacts/active/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
./_artifacts/closed/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
)
)
rmfile
./_artifacts/closed/00000013|bug|clive@darkarts.co.za|colouring\32\for\32\tty\32\now\32\incorrect\32\(los\32\related)
)
)
Please report this to bugs@darcs.net
If possible include the output of 'darcs --exact-version'.

--

clive% darcs --exact-version
darcs compiled on Dec 24 2005, at 18:11:11
unknown

--

In my mind the above is completely useless as well. So:

clive% darcs --version
1.0.5 (release)

...
> darcs: bug in darcs!
> in function reconcile_unwindings

I'm afraid this is a known issue, but not one that we know how to fix,
although we're working on it.  The trouble is in the old-style conflict
handling, which has a few fundamental flaws.  :(

The workaround is to unrecord some patches on one branch or the other so
that darcs doesn't have to do this conflicting merge.  One possibility
might be to unrecord the directory removal and synchronize the two branches
before removing the directory--which also might be incompatible with the
reason you have two branches in the first place.  :(
-- 
David Roundy

This bug is a duplicate one that is resolved-in-unstable.