diff --git a/src/common/rclconfig.cpp b/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
index 1b8aeae7..046fd929 100644
--- a/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
+++ b/src/common/rclconfig.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <langinfo.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include <sys/param.h>
 
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <list>
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ typedef pair<int,int> RclPII;
 bool o_index_stripchars = true;
 
 string RclConfig::o_localecharset; 
+string RclConfig::o_origcwd; 
 
 bool ParamStale::needrecompute()
 {
@@ -118,6 +120,16 @@ bool RclConfig::isDefaultConfig() const
 RclConfig::RclConfig(const string *argcnf)
 {
     zeroMe();
+
+    if (o_origcwd.empty()) {
+	char buf[MAXPATHLEN];
+	if (getcwd(buf, MAXPATHLEN)) {
+	    o_origcwd = string(buf);
+	} else {
+	    fprintf(stderr, "recollxx: can't retrieve current working directory: relative path translations will fail\n");
+	}
+    }
+
     // Compute our data dir name, typically /usr/local/share/recoll
     const char *cdatadir = getenv("RECOLL_DATADIR");
     if (cdatadir == 0) {
diff --git a/src/common/rclconfig.h b/src/common/rclconfig.h
index 3b5dbd8e..11abe361 100644
--- a/src/common/rclconfig.h
+++ b/src/common/rclconfig.h
@@ -257,6 +257,11 @@ class RclConfig {
 	call it after primary init */
     void initThrConf();
 
+    const string& getOrigCwd() 
+    {
+	return o_origcwd;
+    }
+
     ~RclConfig() {
 	freeAll();
     }
@@ -302,6 +307,10 @@ class RclConfig {
     ParamStale   m_skpnstate;
     vector<string> m_skpnlist;
 
+    // Original current working directory. Set once at init before we do any
+    // chdir'ing and used for converting user args to absolute paths.
+    static string o_origcwd;
+
     // Parameters auto-fetched on setkeydir
     string m_defcharset;
     static string o_localecharset;
diff --git a/src/index/indexer.cpp b/src/index/indexer.cpp
index 7f15fab3..7e93fc3c 100644
--- a/src/index/indexer.cpp
+++ b/src/index/indexer.cpp
@@ -157,9 +157,10 @@ bool ConfIndexer::index(bool resetbefore, ixType typestorun)
 bool ConfIndexer::indexFiles(list<string>& ifiles, IxFlag flag)
 {
     list<string> myfiles;
+    string origcwd = m_config->getOrigCwd();
     for (list<string>::const_iterator it = ifiles.begin(); 
 	 it != ifiles.end(); it++) {
-	myfiles.push_back(path_canon(*it));
+	myfiles.push_back(path_canon(*it, &origcwd));
     }
     myfiles.sort();
 
@@ -239,9 +240,10 @@ bool ConfIndexer::updateDocs(std::vector<Rcl::Doc> &docs, IxFlag flag)
 bool ConfIndexer::purgeFiles(std::list<string> &files)
 {
     list<string> myfiles;
+    string origcwd = m_config->getOrigCwd();
     for (list<string>::const_iterator it = files.begin(); 
 	 it != files.end(); it++) {
-	myfiles.push_back(path_canon(*it));
+	myfiles.push_back(path_canon(*it, &origcwd));
     }
     myfiles.sort();
 
diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.cpp b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
index 298279d8..f8f8bd22 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
@@ -335,17 +335,22 @@ extern string path_absolute(const string &is)
 }
 
 #include <smallut.h>
-extern string path_canon(const string &is)
+extern string path_canon(const string &is, const string* cwd)
 {
     if (is.length() == 0)
 	return is;
     string s = is;
     if (s[0] != '/') {
 	char buf[MAXPATHLEN];
-	if (!getcwd(buf, MAXPATHLEN)) {
-	    return string();
+	const char *cwdp = buf;
+	if (cwd) {
+	    cwdp = cwd->c_str();
+	} else {
+	    if (!getcwd(buf, MAXPATHLEN)) {
+		return string();
+	    }
 	}
-	s = path_cat(string(buf), s); 
+	s = path_cat(string(cwdp), s); 
     }
     vector<string> elems;
     stringToTokens(s, elems, "/");
diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.h b/src/utils/pathut.h
index 82f0d45f..873e8dcf 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.h
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.h
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ extern std::string path_tildexpand(const std::string &s);
 /// we return an empty path in this case.
 extern std::string path_absolute(const std::string &s);
 /// Clean up path by removing duplicated / and resolving ../ + make it absolute
-extern std::string path_canon(const std::string &s);
+extern std::string path_canon(const std::string &s, const std::string *cwd=0);
 /// Use glob(3) to return the file names matching pattern inside dir
 extern std::vector<std::string> path_dirglob(const std::string &dir, 
 				   const std::string pattern);