Index: trunk/ppMerge/src/ppMergeCheckInputs.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/ppMerge/src/ppMergeCheckInputs.c	(revision 12733)
+++ trunk/ppMerge/src/ppMergeCheckInputs.c	(revision 13230)
@@ -33,9 +33,13 @@
     psString statsName = psMetadataLookupStr(NULL, config->arguments, "-stats"); // Name for statistics file
     if (statsName && strlen(statsName) > 0) {
-        data->statsFile = fopen(statsName, "w");
+        psString resolved = pmConfigConvertFilename(statsName, config, true); // Resolved filename
+        data->statsFile = fopen(resolved, "w");
         if (!data->statsFile) {
-            psLogMsg(__func__, PS_LOG_WARN, "Unable to open statistics file %s --- ignored.\n",
-                     statsName);
+            psError(PS_ERR_IO, true, "Unable to open statistics file %s for writing.\n", resolved);
+            psFree(resolved);
+            psFree(data);
+            return NULL;
         }
+        psFree(resolved);
     }