diff --git a/mercurial/merge.py b/mercurial/merge.py
--- a/mercurial/merge.py
+++ b/mercurial/merge.py
@@ -301,8 +301,6 @@
         f, m = a[:2]
         u.progress(_('updating'), i + 1, item=f, total=numupdates,
                    unit=_('files'))
-        if f and f[0] == "/":
-            continue
         if m == "r": # remove
             repo.ui.note(_("removing %s\n") % f)
             audit_path(f)
diff --git a/mercurial/util.py b/mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py
+++ b/mercurial/util.py
@@ -505,6 +505,8 @@
     def __call__(self, path):
         if path in self.audited:
             return
+        if path[0] == '/':
+            raise Abort(_("path is absolute: %s") % path)
         normpath = os.path.normcase(path)
         parts = splitpath(normpath)
         if (os.path.splitdrive(path)[0]
diff --git a/tests/test-audit-path.t b/tests/test-audit-path.t
--- a/tests/test-audit-path.t
+++ b/tests/test-audit-path.t
@@ -78,5 +78,5 @@
   $ hg manifest -r4
   /tmp/test
   $ hg update -Cr4
-  abort: No such file or directory: $TESTTMP/target//tmp/test
+  abort: path is absolute: /tmp/test
   [255]