diff --git a/src/lib/common.sh b/src/lib/common.sh
index 570dfa2..b8f21e3 100644
--- a/src/lib/common.sh
+++ b/src/lib/common.sh
@@ -293,6 +293,16 @@ mca_ledger_add() {
 	printf '%s\t%s\t%s\n' "$kind" "$path" "$detail" >> "$MCA_LEDGER"
 }
 
+# mca_ledger_has <path>
+# Whether the ledger still knows about that file. Worth asking because the copy
+# kept beside it is named after the path and outlives a ledger that was lost or
+# truncated: a file nothing has a record of any more is one nothing would ever
+# look at again.
+mca_ledger_has() {
+	[[ -f $MCA_LEDGER ]] || return 1
+	awk -F'\t' -v p="$1" '$2 == p { found = 1 } END { exit !found }' "$MCA_LEDGER"
+}
+
 mca_ledger_forget() {
 	local path="$1" tmp
 	[[ -f $MCA_LEDGER ]] || return 0
diff --git a/src/lib/patch.sh b/src/lib/patch.sh
index 11d8948..497d090 100644
--- a/src/lib/patch.sh
+++ b/src/lib/patch.sh
@@ -423,9 +423,21 @@ mca_desktop_apply() {
 # a shortcut to.
 _mca_entry_patch_inplace() {
 	local file="$1" gate="$2"
-	local id prog packaging=native content backup kind
+	local id prog packaging=native content backup kind copy
 
-	grep -q "^$MCA_MARK_INPLACE=" "$file" 2>/dev/null && return 0
+	# Already ours, and normally that is the end of it: what is in there is what
+	# this version put there. Not so for a file the ledger has no record of -
+	# nothing would ever look at that one again, neither the undo a change of
+	# flags goes through nor this, which leaves a marked file alone, and it would
+	# keep an answer from an older version for good. The copy taken before the
+	# edit is named after the path and is still there, so the file goes back to
+	# what it was and is written again below.
+	if grep -q "^$MCA_MARK_INPLACE=" "$file" 2>/dev/null; then
+		mca_ledger_has "$file" && return 0
+		copy="$MCA_BACKUPDIR/$(mca_backup_name "$file")"
+		[[ -f $copy ]] || return 0
+		cp -p -- "$copy" "$file" 2>/dev/null || return 0
+	fi
 
 	_mca_desktop_read "$file"
 	[[ -n $DE_EXEC ]] || return 0