diff -r c1091a3089ac conary/build/manifest.py
--- a/conary/build/manifest.py  Thu Aug 03 21:24:57 2006 -0400
+++ b/conary/build/manifest.py  Fri Aug 04 21:55:04 2006 +0400
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ class Manifest:
 
     def load(self):
 
+        # r.Make(dir='non-existen', skipMissingDir=True, package='foo')
+        if not os.path.exists(self.manifestsFile):
+            return
+
         fileList = [ re.escape(x[:-1]) \
                      for x in open(self.manifestFile).readlines() ]