diff --git a/lib/package.gi b/lib/package.gi
index ba0612a535..af34bf2596 100644
--- a/lib/package.gi
+++ b/lib/package.gi
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( InitializePackagesInfoRecords, function( arg )
     # the first time this is called, add the cmd line args to the list
     if IsEmpty(GAPInfo.PackageDirectories) then
         for pkgdirstrs in GAPInfo.CommandLineOptions.packagedirs do
-            pkgdirs:= List( SplitString( pkgdirstrs, ";" ), Directory );
+            pkgdirs:= List( List( SplitString( pkgdirstrs, ";" ), GAP_realpath ), Directory );
             for pkgdir in pkgdirs do
                 if not pkgdir in GAPInfo.PackageDirectories then
                     Add( GAPInfo.PackageDirectories, pkgdir );
@@ -1864,6 +1864,7 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( SetPackagePath, function( pkgname, pkgpath )
 InstallGlobalFunction( ExtendRootDirectories, function( rootpaths )
     local i;
 
+    rootpaths:= List( rootpaths, GAP_realpath );
     rootpaths:= Filtered( rootpaths, path -> not path in GAPInfo.RootPaths );
     if not IsEmpty( rootpaths ) then
       # 'DirectoriesLibrary' concatenates root paths with directory names.
@@ -1896,8 +1897,10 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( ExtendPackageDirectories, function( paths_or_dirs )
     changed:= false;
     for p in paths_or_dirs do
       if IsString( p ) then
-        p:= Directory( p );
-      elif not IsDirectory( p ) then
+        p:= Directory( GAP_realpath ( p ) );
+      elif IsDirectory( p ) then
+        p:= Directory( GAP_realpath ( p![1] ) );
+      else
         Error("input must be a list of path strings or directory objects");
       fi;
       if not p in GAPInfo.PackageDirectories then
diff --git a/src/sysroots.c b/src/sysroots.c
index 42e4e42fe9..acef6363ad 100644
--- a/src/sysroots.c
+++ b/src/sysroots.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "sysstr.h"
 #include "system.h"
 
+#include <limits.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
 
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ void SySetGapRootPath(const Char * string)
         return;
     const UInt userhomelen = strlen(userhome);
     for (i = 0; i < MAX_GAP_DIRS && SyGapRootPaths[i][0]; i++) {
-        const UInt pathlen = strlen(SyGapRootPaths[i]);
+        UInt pathlen = strlen(SyGapRootPaths[i]);
         if (SyGapRootPaths[i][0] == '~' &&
             userhomelen + pathlen < sizeof(SyGapRootPaths[i])) {
             SyMemmove(SyGapRootPaths[i] + userhomelen,
@@ -205,6 +206,20 @@ void SySetGapRootPath(const Char * string)
                       SyGapRootPaths[i] + 1, pathlen);
             memcpy(SyGapRootPaths[i], userhome, userhomelen);
         }
+
+        // convert all paths to absolute paths
+        char tempstr[PATH_MAX];
+
+        if (NULL == realpath(SyGapRootPaths[i], tempstr)) {
+            SySetErrorNo();
+        } else {
+            strxcpy(SyGapRootPaths[i], tempstr, sizeof(SyGapRootPaths[i]));
+            pathlen = strlen(SyGapRootPaths[i]);
+            if (SyGapRootPaths[i][pathlen - 1] != '/') {
+                SyGapRootPaths[i][pathlen] = '/';
+                SyGapRootPaths[i][pathlen + 1] = '\0';
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/sysroots.h b/src/sysroots.h
index ae7341ce94..264e89cb43 100644
--- a/src/sysroots.h
+++ b/src/sysroots.h
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ void SySetGapRootPath(const Char * string);
 **
 **  <buf> must point to a buffer of at least <size> characters. This function
 **  then searches for a readable file with the name <filename> in the system
-**  area. If sich a file is found then its absolute path is copied into
+**  area. If such a file is found then its absolute path is copied into
 **  <buf>, and <buf> is returned. If no file is found or if <buf> is not big
 **  enough, then <buf> is set to an empty string and NULL is returned.
 */