Indeed, it does fail at startup. Two things about your patch, you've
added a patch file but didn't register it in gnu/local.mk. This means
it'll get dropped during a 'make dist' which would be a problem. The
second is that it's a lot of patch for a small amount of code change.
With your permission I'd like to commit the attached patch instead.

-- 
Efraim Flashner   <efraim@flashner.co.il>   אפרים פלשנר
GPG key = A28B F40C 3E55 1372 662D  14F7 41AA E7DC CA3D 8351
Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed on emails sent or received unencrypted