diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.8.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.8.txt
index f53845f693..1da562e715 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.8.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.8.txt
@@ -139,6 +139,10 @@ included in this release.
    credentials.
    (merge deba493 jk/http-auth later to maint).
 
+ * "git blame" was aborted if started from an uncommitted content and
+   the path had the textconv filter in effect.
+   (merge 8518088 ss/blame-textconv-fake-working-tree later to maint).
+
  * "git branch -m/-M" advertised to update RENAME_REF ref in the
    commit log message that introduced the feature but not anywhere in
    the documentation, and never did update such a ref anyway. This
@@ -170,7 +174,7 @@ included in this release.
 
 ---
 exec >/var/tmp/1
-O=v1.7.8-rc0-32-g8e3565f
+O=v1.7.8-rc0-48-g92622e6
 echo O=$(git describe --always master)
 git log --first-parent --oneline --reverse ^$O master
 echo
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index 56dc9d6683..cc8a3d27d5 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 GVF=GIT-VERSION-FILE
-DEF_VER=v1.7.8-rc0
+DEF_VER=v1.7.8-rc1
 
 LF='
 '
diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index 86c0537cbb..80febbe420 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -2096,6 +2096,7 @@ static struct commit *fake_working_tree_commit(struct diff_options *opt,
 	if (!contents_from || strcmp("-", contents_from)) {
 		struct stat st;
 		const char *read_from;
+		char *buf_ptr;
 		unsigned long buf_len;
 
 		if (contents_from) {
@@ -2113,10 +2114,8 @@ static struct commit *fake_working_tree_commit(struct diff_options *opt,
 		switch (st.st_mode & S_IFMT) {
 		case S_IFREG:
 			if (DIFF_OPT_TST(opt, ALLOW_TEXTCONV) &&
-			    textconv_object(read_from, mode, null_sha1, &buf.buf, &buf_len)) {
-				buf.alloc = buf_len;
-				buf.len = buf_len;
-			}
+			    textconv_object(read_from, mode, null_sha1, &buf_ptr, &buf_len))
+				strbuf_attach(&buf, buf_ptr, buf_len, buf_len + 1);
 			else if (strbuf_read_file(&buf, read_from, st.st_size) != st.st_size)
 				die_errno("cannot open or read '%s'", read_from);
 			break;