diff --git a/builtin-clone.c b/builtin-clone.c
index f4accbe541..7190952071 100644
--- a/builtin-clone.c
+++ b/builtin-clone.c
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ static char *get_repo_path(const char *repo, int *is_bundle)
 		path = mkpath("%s%s", repo, suffix[i]);
 		if (!stat(path, &st) && S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
 			*is_bundle = 0;
-			return xstrdup(make_absolute_path(path));
+			return xstrdup(make_nonrelative_path(path));
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ static char *get_repo_path(const char *repo, int *is_bundle)
 		path = mkpath("%s%s", repo, bundle_suffix[i]);
 		if (!stat(path, &st) && S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
 			*is_bundle = 1;
-			return xstrdup(make_absolute_path(path));
+			return xstrdup(make_nonrelative_path(path));
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 092a997b07..0a63c0eae6 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -524,6 +524,7 @@ static inline int is_absolute_path(const char *path)
 	return path[0] == '/';
 }
 const char *make_absolute_path(const char *path);
+const char *make_nonrelative_path(const char *path);
 
 /* Read and unpack a sha1 file into memory, write memory to a sha1 file */
 extern int sha1_object_info(const unsigned char *, unsigned long *);
diff --git a/path.c b/path.c
index b7c24a2aac..4945f2abc5 100644
--- a/path.c
+++ b/path.c
@@ -291,6 +291,42 @@ int adjust_shared_perm(const char *path)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static const char *get_pwd_cwd(void)
+{
+	static char cwd[PATH_MAX + 1];
+	char *pwd;
+	struct stat cwd_stat, pwd_stat;
+	if (getcwd(cwd, PATH_MAX) == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+	pwd = getenv("PWD");
+	if (pwd && strcmp(pwd, cwd)) {
+		stat(cwd, &cwd_stat);
+		if (!stat(pwd, &pwd_stat) &&
+		    pwd_stat.st_dev == cwd_stat.st_dev &&
+		    pwd_stat.st_ino == cwd_stat.st_ino) {
+			strlcpy(cwd, pwd, PATH_MAX);
+		}
+	}
+	return cwd;
+}
+
+const char *make_nonrelative_path(const char *path)
+{
+	static char buf[PATH_MAX + 1];
+
+	if (path[0] == '/') {
+		if (strlcpy(buf, path, PATH_MAX) >= PATH_MAX)
+			die ("Too long path: %.*s", 60, path);
+	} else {
+		const char *cwd = get_pwd_cwd();
+		if (!cwd)
+			die("Cannot determine the current working directory");
+		if (snprintf(buf, PATH_MAX, "%s/%s", cwd, path) >= PATH_MAX)
+			die ("Too long path: %.*s", 60, path);
+	}
+	return buf;
+}
+
 /* We allow "recursive" symbolic links. Only within reason, though. */
 #define MAXDEPTH 5