diff -urN gtk+-2.24.21/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c gtk+-2.24.21_mkdir/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c
--- gtk+-2.24.21/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c	2012-09-03 11:28:02.000000000 -0700
+++ gtk+-2.24.21_mkdir/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c	2014-02-20 10:29:39.000000000 -0800
@@ -502,6 +502,7 @@
   char *old_file = g_build_filename (g_get_home_dir (),
                                      "." GTK_RECENTLY_USED_FILE,
                                      NULL);
+  g_mkdir_with_parents(g_get_user_data_dir (), 0755);
   char *new_file = g_build_filename (g_get_user_data_dir (),
                                      GTK_RECENTLY_USED_FILE,
                                      NULL);