Comment 2 for bug 850594

Here is a workaround, thanks to poolie and vila on the #bzr IRC channel:

Instead of adding the new file and then shelving it, simply do not add it in the first place (using "bzr add --no-recurse").

So, with the setup from above, after editing your file, simply do

bzr add --no-recurse dir
bzr ci -m "setup dir"
bzr add dir/file
bzr ci -m "work on file"

instead of

# DON'T DO THIS
bzr add
bzr shelve -m "work on file" dir/file
bzr ci -m "setup dir"
bzr unshelve