diff --git a/src/memline.c b/src/memline.c
index ea7d0e1..b8d13d9 100644
--- a/src/memline.c
+++ b/src/memline.c
@@ -3572,8 +3572,9 @@
 #else
 	    (buf->b_p_sn || buf->b_shortname),
 #endif
-#ifdef RISCOS
-	    /* Avoid problems if fname has special chars, eg <Wimp$Scrap> */
+#if defined(VMS) || defined(RISCOS)
+	    /* Avoid problems if fname has special chars, eg <Wimp$Scrap>.
+	     * For VMS always use full path for swapfile. */
 	    ffname,
 #else
 # ifdef HAVE_READLINK