diff --git a/meldapp.py b/meldapp.py
index 98367e6..7ea3d8b 100644
--- a/meldapp.py
+++ b/meldapp.py
@@ -460,6 +460,7 @@ class MeldPreferences(prefs.Preferences):
             _("Leading whitespace\t0\t^[ \\t\\r\\f\\v]*\n") + \
             #TRANSLATORS: translate this string ONLY to the first "\t", leave it and the following parts intact
             _("Script comment\t0\t#.*")),
+        "left_is_local": prefs.Value(prefs.BOOL, False),
         "ignore_blank_lines" : prefs.Value(prefs.BOOL, 1)
     }
 
diff --git a/vcview.py b/vcview.py
index ba7fdb8..f838282 100644
--- a/vcview.py
+++ b/vcview.py
@@ -451,7 +451,10 @@ class VcView(melddoc.MeldDoc, gnomeglade.Component):
                 shutil.copyfile( pathtofile, destfile)
             except IOError: # it is missing, create empty file
                 open(destfile,"w").close()
-            diffs.append( (destfile, pathtofile) )
+            if self.prefs.left_is_local:
+                diffs.append((pathtofile, destfile))
+            else:
+                diffs.append((destfile, pathtofile))
 
         patchcmd = self.vc.patch_command( tmpdir )
         if misc.write_pipe(patchcmd, patch) == 0:
