diff --git a/src/index/recollindex.cpp b/src/index/recollindex.cpp
index 92dced4e..36eb3f10 100644
--- a/src/index/recollindex.cpp
+++ b/src/index/recollindex.cpp
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ public:
         if (path_exists(m_stopfilename)) {
             LOGINF("recollindex: asking indexer to stop because " <<
                    m_stopfilename << " exists\n");
-            unlink(m_stopfilename.c_str());
+            path_unlink(m_stopfilename);
             stopindexing = true;
         }
         if (stopindexing) {
diff --git a/src/index/webqueue.cpp b/src/index/webqueue.cpp
index 808326f4..f1e2967a 100644
--- a/src/index/webqueue.cpp
+++ b/src/index/webqueue.cpp
@@ -472,10 +472,10 @@ WebQueueIndexer::processone(const string &path,
     dounlink = true;
 out:
     if (dounlink) {
-        if (unlink(path.c_str())) {
+        if (!path_unlink(path)) {
             LOGSYSERR("WebQueueIndexer::processone", "unlink", path);
         }
-        if (unlink(dotpath.c_str())) {
+        if (!path_unlink(dotpath)) {
             LOGSYSERR("WebQueueIndexer::processone", "unlink", dotpath);
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp b/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
index 023bb59d..6cedda3c 100644
--- a/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
+++ b/src/rcldb/rcldb.cpp
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ void Db::Native::openWrite(const string& dir, Db::OpenMode mode)
     if (mode == DbTrunc) {
         if (path_exists(path_cat(dir, "iamchert"))) {
             wipedir(dir);
-            unlink(dir.c_str());
+            path_unlink(dir);
         }
     }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/utils/copyfile.cpp b/src/utils/copyfile.cpp
index 8972ba3f..1cb2d6ee 100644
--- a/src/utils/copyfile.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/copyfile.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include "safesysstat.h"
 #include "safeunistd.h"
+#include "pathut.h"
 #ifndef _WIN32
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <utime.h>
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ bool copyfile(const char *src, const char *dst, string &reason, int flags)
     ret = true;
 out:
     if (ret == false && !(flags&COPYFILE_NOERRUNLINK))
-        ::unlink(dst);
+        path_unlink(dst);
     if (sfd >= 0)
         ::close(sfd);
     if (dfd >= 0)
@@ -121,7 +122,7 @@ bool stringtofile(const string& dt, const char *dst, string& reason,
     ret = true;
 out:
     if (ret == false && !(flags&COPYFILE_NOERRUNLINK))
-        ::unlink(dst);
+        path_unlink(dst);
     if (dfd >= 0)
         ::close(dfd);
     return ret;
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ bool renameormove(const char *src, const char *dst, string &reason)
     // Windows refuses to rename to an existing file. It appears that
     // there are workarounds (See MoveFile, MoveFileTransacted), but
     // anyway we are not expecting atomicity here.
-    unlink(dst);
+    path_unlink(dst);
 #endif
     
     // First try rename(2). If this succeeds we're done. If this fails
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ bool renameormove(const char *src, const char *dst, string &reason)
     utimes(dst, times);
 #endif
     // All ok, get rid of origin
-    if (unlink(src) < 0) {
+    if (!path_unlink(src)) {
         reason += string("Can't unlink ") + src + "Error : " + strerror(errno);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.cpp b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
index 78839bd4..d44c21b6 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.cpp
@@ -854,6 +854,12 @@ bool path_chdir(const std::string& path)
     return CHDIR(syspath) == 0;
 }
 
+bool path_unlink(const std::string& path)
+{
+    SYSPATH(path, syspath);
+    return UNLINK(syspath);
+}
+
 #if !defined(__GNUC__) || __GNUC__ > 4 || defined(__clang__)
 // Not sure what g++ version supports fstream assignment but 4.9
 // (jessie) certainly does not
diff --git a/src/utils/pathut.h b/src/utils/pathut.h
index 646a0517..cf447e3e 100644
--- a/src/utils/pathut.h
+++ b/src/utils/pathut.h
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ extern bool path_makepath(const std::string& path, int mode);
 
 ///
 extern bool path_chdir(const std::string& path);
+extern bool path_unlink(const std::string& path);
 
 /* Open file, trying to do the right thing with non-ASCII paths on
  * Windows, where it only works with MSVC at the moment if the path is
diff --git a/src/utils/rclutil.cpp b/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
index 7902c79f..a7d67666 100644
--- a/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ static bool path_gettempfilename(string& filename, string& reason)
         return false;
     }
     close(fd);
-    unlink(cp);
+    path_unlink(cp);
     filename = cp;
     free(cp);
     return true;
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ TempFile::Internal::~Internal()
 {
     if (!m_filename.empty() && !m_noremove) {
         LOGDEB1("TempFile:~: unlinking " << m_filename << endl);
-        if (unlink(m_filename.c_str()) != 0) {
+        if (!path_unlink(m_filename)) {
             LOGSYSERR("TempFile:~", "unlink", m_filename);
 #ifdef _WIN32
             {
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ void TempFile::tryRemoveAgain()
     std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(remTmpFNMutex);
     std::list<string>::iterator pos = remainingTempFileNames.begin();
     while (pos != remainingTempFileNames.end()) {
-        if (unlink(pos->c_str()) != 0) {
+        if (!path_unlink(*pos)) {
             LOGSYSERR("TempFile::tryRemoveAgain", "unlink", *pos);
             pos++;
         } else {