diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index d4fe91b88..36f4c16fd 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+ikiwiki (3.13) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
+
+  * ikiwiki-transition: If passed a nonexistant srcdir, or one not
+    containing .ikiwiki, abort with an error rather than creating it.
+
+ -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Wed, 06 May 2009 20:45:44 -0400
+
 ikiwiki (3.12) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * Re-enable python-support and add python:Depends to control file.
diff --git a/ikiwiki-transition b/ikiwiki-transition
index f17868d73..ce1807309 100755
--- a/ikiwiki-transition
+++ b/ikiwiki-transition
@@ -73,11 +73,7 @@ sub prefix_directives {
 }
 
 sub indexdb {
-	my $dir=shift;
-	if (! defined $dir) {
-		usage();		
-	}
-	$config{wikistatedir}=$dir."/.ikiwiki";
+	setstatedir(shift);
 
 	# Note: No lockwiki here because ikiwiki already locks it
 	# before calling this.	
@@ -96,11 +92,7 @@ sub indexdb {
 }
 
 sub hashpassword {
-	my $dir=shift;
-	if (! defined $dir) {
-		usage();		
-	}
-	$config{wikistatedir}=$dir."/.ikiwiki";
+	setstatedir(shift);
 
 	eval q{use IkiWiki::UserInfo};
 	eval q{use Authen::Passphrase::BlowfishCrypt};
@@ -221,11 +213,7 @@ sub moveprefs {
 }
 
 sub deduplinks {
-	my $dir=shift;
-	if (! defined $dir) {
-		usage();		
-	}
-	$config{wikistatedir}=$dir."/.ikiwiki";
+	setstatdir(shift);
 	IkiWiki::loadindex();
 	foreach my $page (keys %links) {
 		my %l;
@@ -235,6 +223,24 @@ sub deduplinks {
 	IkiWiki::saveindex();
 }
 
+sub setstatedir {
+	my $dir=shift;
+
+	if (! defined $dir) {
+		usage();		
+	}
+
+	if (! -d $dir) {
+		error("ikiwiki-transition: $dir does not exist");
+	}
+
+	$config{wikistatedir}=$dir."/.ikiwiki";
+
+	if (! -d $config{wikistatedir}) {
+		error("ikiwiki-transition: $config{wikistatedir} does not exist");
+	}
+}
+
 sub usage {
 	print STDERR "Usage: ikiwiki-transition type ...\n";
 	print STDERR "Currently supported transition subcommands:\n";