diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index 799ed3b55b9..f2a0a6dede8 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
+1999-12-16  Eli Zaretskii  <eliz@is.elta.co.il>
+
+	* ls-lisp.el (ls-lisp-insert-directory): Print an explicit message
+	if one of the files specified cannot be accessed by
+	file-attributes.  Do not strip any leading directories from the
+	file names, to behave more like `ls' does.
+
+	* dired.el (dired-get-filename): Handle absolute file names.
+	(dired-readin-insert): If argument is a cons, don't print
+	"wildcard" on the ``total'' line.
+
 1999-12-15  Eli Zaretskii  <eliz@is.elta.co.il>
 
 	* faces.el (face-read-integer, read-face-attribute)
diff --git a/lisp/dired.el b/lisp/dired.el
index 895c95fc78e..c56485033a6 100644
--- a/lisp/dired.el
+++ b/lisp/dired.el
@@ -651,9 +651,10 @@ If DIRNAME is already in a dired buffer, that buffer is used without refresh."
 	;; unless it is an explicit list of files.
 	(dired-insert-directory dir-or-list dired-actual-switches
 				(not (listp dir-or-list)))
-	(save-excursion		;; insert wildcard instead of total line:
-	  (goto-char (point-min))
-	  (insert "wildcard " (file-name-nondirectory dirname) "\n"))))))
+	(or (consp dir-or-list)
+	    (save-excursion	;; insert wildcard instead of total line:
+	      (goto-char (point-min))
+	      (insert "wildcard " (file-name-nondirectory dirname) "\n")))))))
 
 (defun dired-insert-directory (dir-or-list switches &optional wildcard full-p)
   ;; Do the right thing whether dir-or-list is atomic or not.  If it is,
@@ -1314,7 +1315,7 @@ Optional arg LOCALP with value `no-dir' means don't include directory
   `default-directory', which still may contain slashes if in a subdirectory.
 Optional arg NO-ERROR-IF-NOT-FILEP means return nil if no filename on
   this line, otherwise an error occurs."
-  (let (case-fold-search file p1 p2)
+  (let (case-fold-search file p1 p2 already-absolute)
     (save-excursion
       (if (setq p1 (dired-move-to-filename (not no-error-if-not-filep)))
 	  (setq p2 (dired-move-to-end-of-filename no-error-if-not-filep))))
@@ -1335,13 +1336,19 @@ Optional arg NO-ERROR-IF-NOT-FILEP means return nil if no filename on
 			      "\\([^\\]\\|\\`\\)\"" file "\\1\\\\\"" nil t)
 			     file)
 			 "\"")))))
+    (and (file-name-absolute-p file)
+	 (setq already-absolute t))
     (and file buffer-file-coding-system
 	 (not file-name-coding-system)
 	 (not default-file-name-coding-system)
 	 (setq file (encode-coding-string file buffer-file-coding-system)))
-    (if (eq localp 'no-dir)
-	file
-      (and file (concat (dired-current-directory localp) file)))))
+    (cond
+     ((and (eq localp 'no-dir) already-absolute)
+      (file-name-nondirectory file))
+     ((or already-absolute (eq localp 'no-dir))
+      file)
+     (t
+      (and file (concat (dired-current-directory localp) file))))))
 
 (defun dired-string-replace-match (regexp string newtext
 					  &optional literal global)
diff --git a/lisp/ls-lisp.el b/lisp/ls-lisp.el
index 6158eff5df9..fa7b462b3ff 100644
--- a/lisp/ls-lisp.el
+++ b/lisp/ls-lisp.el
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ file names.
 
 Not all `ls' switches are supported.  The switches that work
 are: A a c i r S s t u"
-  (let ((handler (find-file-name-handler file 'insert-directory)))
+  (let ((handler (find-file-name-handler file 'insert-directory))
+	fattr)
     (if handler
 	(funcall handler 'insert-directory file switches
 		 wildcard full-directory-p)
@@ -180,10 +181,15 @@ are: A a c i r S s t u"
 	;; if not full-directory-p, FILE *must not* end in /, as
 	;; file-attributes will not recognize a symlink to a directory
 	;; must make it a relative filename as ls does:
-	(setq file (file-name-nondirectory file))
-	(insert (ls-lisp-format file (file-attributes file)
-				(nth 7 (file-attributes file)) switches
-				(current-time)))))))
+	(if (eq (aref file (1- (length file))) ?/)
+	    (setq file (substring file 0 (1- (length file)))))
+	(setq fattr (file-attributes file))
+	(if fattr
+	    (insert (ls-lisp-format file fattr (nth 7 fattr)
+				    switches (current-time)))
+	  (message "%s: doesn't exist or is inaccessible" file)
+	  (ding)
+	  (sit-for 2))))))
 
 (defun ls-lisp-delete-matching (regexp list)
   ;; Delete all elements matching REGEXP from LIST, return new list.