Original patch as attached on the bugreport

src/command.c

@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ examine_cd (char *path)
     const char *t;
 
     /* Tilde expansion */
+    path = unescape_string(path);
     path_tilde = tilde_expand (path);
 
     /* Leave space for further expansion */

src/complete.c

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include "wtools.h"
 #include "complete.h"
 #include "main.h"
+#include "util.h"
 #include "key.h"		/* XCTRL and ALT macros */
 
 typedef char *CompletionFunction (char *, int);
@@ -911,6 +912,7 @@ query_callback (Dlg_head *h, dlg_msg_t msg, int parm)
 static int
 complete_engine (WInput *in, int what_to_do)
 {
+    char *complete = NULL;
     if (in->completions && in->point != end)
     	free_completions (in);
     if (!in->completions){
@@ -924,7 +926,8 @@ complete_engine (WInput *in, int what_to_do)
     }
     if (in->completions){
     	if (what_to_do & DO_INSERTION || ((what_to_do & DO_QUERY) && !in->completions[1])) {
-    	    if (insert_text (in, in->completions [0], strlen (in->completions [0]))){
+    	    complete = escape_string(in->completions [0]);
+    	    if (insert_text (in, complete, strlen (complete))){
     	        if (in->completions [1])
     	    	    beep ();
 		else
@@ -940,9 +943,11 @@ complete_engine (WInput *in, int what_to_do)
     	    Dlg_head *query_dlg;
     	    WListbox *query_list;
     	    
-    	    for (p=in->completions + 1; *p; count++, p++)
+    	    for (p=in->completions + 1; *p; count++, p++) {
+    	    *p = escape_string(*p);
     	    	if ((i = strlen (*p)) > maxlen)
     	    	    maxlen = i;
+			}
     	    start_x = in->widget.x;
     	    start_y = in->widget.y;
     	    if (start_y - 2 >= count) {

src/file.c

@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
 #include "widget.h"
 #include "wtools.h"
 #include "background.h"		/* we_are_background */
+#include "util.h"
 
 /* Needed for current_panel, other_panel and WTree */
 #include "dir.h"
@@ -791,7 +792,7 @@ copy_file_file (FileOpContext *ctx, const char *src_path, const char *dst_path,
 	    }
 	}
 
-	if (!appending) {
+	if (!appending && ctx->preserve) {
 	    while (mc_chmod (dst_path, (src_mode & ctx->umask_kill))) {
 		temp_status = file_error (
 			_(" Cannot chmod target file \"%s\" \n %s "), dst_path);
@@ -1872,6 +1873,8 @@ panel_operate (void *source_panel, FileOperation operation,
 		dest = temp2;
 		temp = NULL;
 
+		source_with_path = unescape_string(source_with_path);
+		dest = unescape_string(dest);
 		switch (operation) {
 		case OP_COPY:
 		    /*
@@ -1963,6 +1966,9 @@ panel_operate (void *source_panel, FileOperation operation,
 		else {
 		    char *temp2 = concat_dir_and_file (dest, temp);
 
+			source_with_path = unescape_string(source_with_path);
+			temp2 = unescape_string(temp2);
+			
 		    switch (operation) {
 		    case OP_COPY:
 			/*

src/util.c

@@ -1527,3 +1527,58 @@ Q_ (const char *s)
     return (sep != NULL) ? sep + 1 : result;
 }
 
+/* Unescape paths or other strings for e.g the internal cd  */
+char *
+unescape_string ( const char * in ) {
+	char * local = NULL;
+	int i = 0;
+	int j = 20;
+	int k = 0;
+
+	local = g_malloc(j);
+	
+	for (i=0;i<=strlen(in);i++) {
+		if (i-k+1 >= j ) {
+			j = j + 20;
+			local = g_realloc(local,j);
+		}
+		if ( (strchr(" \t*|;<>~#()?[]{}&",in[i])) && ( strchr("\\",in[i-1])) ) {
+			k++;
+			local[i-k] = in[i];
+		} else {
+			local[i-k] = in[i];
+		}
+	}
+	local[i-k] = '\0';
+	
+	return local;
+}
+
+/* To be compatible with the general posix command lines we have to escape *
+ * strings for the command line											   */
+char *
+escape_string ( const char * in ) {
+	char * local = NULL;
+	int i = 0;
+	int j = 20;
+	int k = 0;
+
+	local = g_malloc(j);
+
+	for (i=0;i<strlen(in);i++) {
+		if (i+k+1 >= j ) { //If 20 chars is too low for the path
+			j = j + 20;
+			local = g_realloc(local,j);
+		}
+		if ( (strchr(" \t*|;<>~#()?[]{}&",in[i])) && (! strchr("\\",in[i-1])) ) {
+			local[i+k] = 92; // Ascii for "\"
+			k = k+1;
+			local[i+k] = in[i];
+		} else {
+			local[i+k] = in[i];
+		}
+	}
+	local[i+k] = '\0';
+
+	return local;
+}

src/util.h

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ extern char *str_unconst (const char *);
 extern const char *cstrcasestr (const char *haystack, const char *needle);
 extern const char *cstrstr (const char *haystack, const char *needle);
 
+char *unescape_string ( const char * in );
+char *escape_string ( const char * in );
 void str_replace(char *s, char from, char to);
 int  is_printable (int c);
 void msglen (const char *text, /*@out@*/ int *lines, /*@out@*/ int *columns);