Index: subversion/svnrdump/svnrdump.c
===================================================================
--- subversion/svnrdump/svnrdump.c	(revision 1424276)
+++ subversion/svnrdump/svnrdump.c	(working copy)
@@ -852,6 +852,7 @@ main(int argc, const char **argv)
   apr_getopt_t *os;
   const char *first_arg;
   apr_array_header_t *received_opts;
+  svn_node_kind_t node_kind;
   int i;
 
   if (svn_cmdline_init ("svnrdump", stderr) != EXIT_SUCCESS)
@@ -1147,6 +1148,17 @@ main(int argc, const char **argv)
                                           opt_baton->url,
                                           opt_baton->ctx, pool));
 
+  SVNRDUMP_ERR(svn_ra_check_path(opt_baton->session, "", 
+                                 SVN_INVALID_REVNUM,
+                                 &node_kind, pool));
+  
+  if (node_kind == svn_node_none)
+    {
+      err = svn_error_createf(SVN_ERR_RA_ILLEGAL_URL, NULL,
+                              _("URL '%s' doesn't exist"), opt_baton->url);
+      return svn_cmdline_handle_exit_error(err, pool, "svnrdump: ");
+    }
+
   /* Have sane opt_baton->start_revision and end_revision defaults if
      unspecified.  */
   SVNRDUMP_ERR(svn_ra_get_latest_revnum(opt_baton->session,
Index: subversion/tests/cmdline/svnrdump_tests.py
===================================================================
--- subversion/tests/cmdline/svnrdump_tests.py	(revision 1424276)
+++ subversion/tests/cmdline/svnrdump_tests.py	(working copy)
@@ -764,8 +764,22 @@ def only_trunk_A_range_dump(sbox):
 
 
 #----------------------------------------------------------------------
+def dump_non_existent_url(sbox):
+  "dump: non-existent URL should return error"
+  sbox.build(read_only = True, create_wc = False) 
+  
+  non_existent_url = sbox.repo_url + '/A/B/EE'
 
+  expected_dump_fail_err_re = "svnrdump: E170000: URL '.*' doesn't exist"
+ 
+  svntest.actions.run_and_verify_svnrdump(None, None,
+                                          expected_dump_fail_err_re, 1, '-q', 
+                                          'dump', non_existent_url)
 
+  
+#----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
 ########################################################################
 # Run the tests
 
@@ -820,6 +834,7 @@ test_list = [ None,
               range_dump,
               only_trunk_range_dump,
               only_trunk_A_range_dump,
+              dump_non_existent_url,
              ]
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':