diff --git a/src/eval.c b/src/eval.c
index db7b106..64ed72a 100644
--- a/src/eval.c
+++ b/src/eval.c
@@ -14980,7 +14980,10 @@
 
 	len = STRLEN(p);
 	if (len > 0 && after_pathsep(p, p + len))
+	{
 	    has_trailing_pathsep = TRUE;
+	    p[len - 1] = NUL; /* the trailing slash breaks readlink() */
+	}
 
 	q = getnextcomp(p);
 	if (*q != NUL)