diff --git a/scripts/repository/binary_safe_diff.sh b/scripts/repository/binary_safe_diff.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1473e804
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/repository/binary_safe_diff.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+diff "$@"
+if [ "$?" = "2" ]; then
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php b/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
index eb1a2632..6c23727f 100644
--- a/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
+++ b/src/repository/api/ArcanistSubversionAPI.php
@@ -268,9 +268,12 @@ final class ArcanistSubversionAPI extends ArcanistRepositoryAPI {
     // itself (such as property changes) and also give us changes to any
     // files within the directory (basically, implicit recursion). We don't
     // want that, so prevent recursive diffing.
+    $root = phutil_get_library_root('arcanist');
+
     return new ExecFuture(
-      '(cd %s; svn diff --depth empty --diff-cmd diff -x -U%d %s)',
+      '(cd %s; svn diff --depth empty --diff-cmd %s -x -U%d %s)',
       $this->getPath(),
+      $root.'/../scripts/repository/binary_safe_diff.sh',
       $this->getDiffLinesOfContext(),
       $path);
   }