diff -up patch-2.6/src/inp.c.sigsegv patch-2.6/src/inp.c
--- patch-2.6/src/inp.c.sigsegv	2009-11-02 19:09:57.000000000 +0000
+++ patch-2.6/src/inp.c	2009-11-16 09:31:52.305022200 +0000
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ re_input (void)
     }
 }
 
+void
+reset_scan_input_vars()
+{
+ using_plan_a = 1;
+ i_buffer = NULL;
+ i_ptr = NULL;
+}
+
 /* Construct the line index, somehow or other. */
 
 void
diff -up patch-2.6/src/inp.h.sigsegv patch-2.6/src/inp.h
--- patch-2.6/src/inp.h.sigsegv	2009-11-02 19:09:57.000000000 +0000
+++ patch-2.6/src/inp.h	2009-11-16 09:32:24.440021838 +0000
@@ -24,4 +24,5 @@ XTERN LINENUM input_lines;		/* how long 
 char const *ifetch (LINENUM, bool, size_t *);
 void get_input_file (char const *, char const *);
 void re_input (void);
+void reset_scan_input_vars (void);
 void scan_input (char *);
diff -up patch-2.6/src/patch.c.sigsegv patch-2.6/src/patch.c
--- patch-2.6/src/patch.c.sigsegv	2009-11-02 19:09:57.000000000 +0000
+++ patch-2.6/src/patch.c	2009-11-16 09:31:52.306021801 +0000
@@ -210,7 +210,10 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
 
 	/* find out where all the lines are */
 	if (!skip_rest_of_patch)
-	    scan_input (inname);
+          scan_input (inname);
+        else
+          reset_scan_input_vars ();
+        
 
 	/* from here on, open no standard i/o files, because malloc */
 	/* might misfire and we can't catch it easily */