diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 80e3d0ac47..ae2d05763f 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@ sub git_get_project_description {
 	my $path = shift;
 
 	$git_dir = "$projectroot/$path";
-	open my $fd, "$projectroot/$path/description"
+	open my $fd, "$git_dir/description"
 		or return git_get_project_config('description');
 	my $descr = <$fd>;
 	close $fd;