diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index 4e1f0ee09ab..580f9ea26be 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2013-02-10  Michael Albinus  <michael.albinus@gmx.de>
+
+	* net/ange-ftp.el (ange-ftp-make-directory): Don't raise an error,
+	if DIR exists and PARENTS is non-nil.
+
 2013-02-09  Chong Yidong  <cyd@gnu.org>
 
 	* mail/emacsbug.el (report-emacs-bug): Change binding of
diff --git a/lisp/net/ange-ftp.el b/lisp/net/ange-ftp.el
index bf6afae45da..1d910386403 100644
--- a/lisp/net/ange-ftp.el
+++ b/lisp/net/ange-ftp.el
@@ -4087,7 +4087,8 @@ directory, so that Emacs will know its current contents."
 	(or (file-exists-p parent)
 	    (ange-ftp-make-directory parent parents))))
   (if (file-exists-p dir)
-      (error "Cannot make directory %s: file already exists" dir)
+      (unless parents
+	(error "Cannot make directory %s: file already exists" dir))
     (let ((parsed (ange-ftp-ftp-name dir)))
       (if parsed
 	  (let* ((host (nth 0 parsed))