diff --git a/daemon/sysroot.ml b/daemon/sysroot.ml
index 286d125b9..57e727066 100644
--- a/daemon/sysroot.ml
+++ b/daemon/sysroot.ml
@@ -20,4 +20,8 @@ open Std_utils
 
 external sysroot : unit -> string = "guestfs_int_daemon_sysroot"
 
-let sysroot_path path = sysroot () // path
+let sysroot_path path =
+  let sysroot = sysroot () in
+  if path = "" then sysroot
+  else if path.[0] = '/' then sysroot ^ path
+  else sysroot // path
diff --git a/daemon/sysroot.mli b/daemon/sysroot.mli
index 7f8970cd8..1e6e75902 100644
--- a/daemon/sysroot.mli
+++ b/daemon/sysroot.mli
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ val sysroot : unit -> string
     in default. *)
 
 val sysroot_path : string -> string
-(** Equivalent to calling [sysroot () // path] *)
+(** Prepend [path] parameter with the sysroot. *)