better handle errors with date parsing (issue983)
Windows cannot always handle a 1970-01-01 parameter to time.mktime().
# should print nothing
# should fail
abort: path 'b/x' is inside repo 'b'
abort: path 'b/x' is inside repo 'b'
# should fail
abort: path 'b/x' is inside repo 'b'
# should arguably print nothing
# should fail
abort: path 'b/a' is inside repo 'b'