--- searchmonkey-0.8.1.old/src/systemio.c
+++ searchmonkey-0.8.1/src/systemio.c
@@ -996,19 +996,32 @@
       }
     }
   } else { /* not absolute string, so try best to fix */
-    if ((tmpStr[0][0] == '.') && (tmpStr[0][1] == *G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S)) {
+    int ch = tmpStr[0][0];
+    if ((ch == '.') && (tmpStr[0][1] == *G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S)) {
       g_free(tmpStr[1]);
       tmpStr[1] = g_strconcat(g_get_current_dir(), &tmpStr[0][2], NULL);
       if (g_file_test(tmpStr[1], G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR)) {
         retStr = strdup(tmpStr[1]);
       }
-    } else if ((tmpStr[0][0] == '~') && (tmpStr[0][1] == *G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S)) {
+    } else if ((ch == '~') && (tmpStr[0][1] == *G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S)) {
       g_free(tmpStr[1]);
       tmpStr[1] = g_strconcat(g_get_home_dir(), &tmpStr[0][2], NULL);
       if (g_file_test(tmpStr[1], G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR)) {
         retStr = strdup(tmpStr[1]);
       }
     }
+    else
+    {
+        int nn;
+        char *xp = tmpStr [0];
+        nn = strlen (xp);
+
+        if ((nn > 0) && (xp [nn - 1] != '/') &&
+            g_file_test (xp, G_FILE_TEST_IS_DIR))
+        {
+            retStr = strdup (tmpStr [1]);
+        }
+    }
   }
 
   /* Clean exit */