# 
# patch "commands.cc"
#  from [7291355a92780e10f26eb41272262e52b844e979]
#    to [29c73be9335e45d126649b36b755f2b2fa6b6214]
# 
--- commands.cc
+++ commands.cc
@@ -2579,15 +2579,32 @@
 {
   try
     {
-      // boost::posix_time is lame: it can parse "basic" ISO times, of the
-      // form 20000101T120000, but not "extended" ISO times, of the form
-      // 2000-01-01T12:00:00.  So do something stupid to convert one to the
-      // other.
       std::string tmp = s;
       std::string::size_type pos = 0;
-      while ((pos = tmp.find_first_of("-:")) != string::npos)
-        tmp.erase(pos, 1);
-      return boost::posix_time::from_iso_string(tmp);
+      
+      if (tmp.find_first_of(" ") != string::npos)
+        {
+          // convert space separated date time strings like
+          // 1996-09-19 20:16:48 to extended ISO time format.
+          while ((pos = tmp.find_first_of(" ")) != string::npos)
+            tmp.replace(pos, 1, "T");
+        }
+
+      if (tmp.find_first_of("T") != string::npos)
+        {
+          // boost::posix_time is lame: it can parse "basic" ISO times, of the
+          // form 20000101T120000, but not "extended" ISO times, of the form
+          // 2000-01-01T12:00:00.  So do something stupid to convert one to the
+          // other.
+      	  while ((pos = tmp.find_first_of("-:")) != string::npos)
+            tmp.erase(pos, 1);
+
+          return boost::posix_time::from_iso_string(tmp);
+        }
+      else
+        {
+          N(false, F("failed to parse date string '%s'") % s);
+        }
     }
   catch (std::out_of_range &e)
     {