Index: src/manifest.c
==================================================================
--- src/manifest.c
+++ src/manifest.c
@@ -47,10 +47,11 @@
 /*
 ** Flags for use with manifest_crosslink().
 */
 #define MC_NONE           0  /*  default handling           */
 #define MC_PERMIT_HOOKS   1  /*  permit hooks to execute    */
+#define MC_NO_ERRORS      2  /*  do not issue errors for a bad parse */
 
 /*
 ** A single F-card within a manifest
 */
 struct ManifestFile {
@@ -1733,23 +1734,25 @@
 
   if( (p = manifest_cache_find(rid))!=0 ){
     blob_reset(pContent);
   }else if( (p = manifest_parse(pContent, rid, 0))==0 ){
     assert( blob_is_reset(pContent) || pContent==0 );
-    fossil_error(1, "syntax error in manifest");
+    if( (flags & MC_NO_ERRORS)==0 ) fossil_error(1, "syntax error in manifest");
     return 0;
   }
   if( g.xlinkClusterOnly && p->type!=CFTYPE_CLUSTER ){
     manifest_destroy(p);
     assert( blob_is_reset(pContent) );
-    fossil_error(1, "no manifest");
+    if( (flags & MC_NO_ERRORS)==0 ) fossil_error(1, "no manifest");
     return 0;
   }
   if( p->type==CFTYPE_MANIFEST && fetch_baseline(p, 0) ){
     manifest_destroy(p);
     assert( blob_is_reset(pContent) );
-    fossil_error(1, "cannot fetch baseline manifest");
+    if( (flags & MC_NO_ERRORS)==0 ){
+      fossil_error(1, "cannot fetch baseline manifest");
+    }
     return 0;
   }
   db_begin_transaction();
   if( p->type==CFTYPE_MANIFEST ){
     if( permitHooks ){

Index: src/xfer.c
==================================================================
--- src/xfer.c
+++ src/xfer.c
@@ -201,11 +201,11 @@
   if( rid==0 ){
     blob_appendf(&pXfer->err, "%s", g.zErrMsg);
     blob_reset(&content);
   }else{
     if( !isPriv ) content_make_public(rid);
-    manifest_crosslink(rid, &content, MC_NONE);
+    manifest_crosslink(rid, &content, MC_NONE|MC_NO_ERRORS);
   }
   assert( blob_is_reset(&content) );
   remote_has(rid);
 }