diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index f818dd858c..faf5095e44 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -459,7 +459,16 @@ static void setup_original_cwd(void)
 	 */
 
 	/* Normalize the directory */
-	strbuf_realpath(&tmp, tmp_original_cwd, 1);
+	if (!strbuf_realpath(&tmp, tmp_original_cwd, 0)) {
+		trace2_data_string("setup", the_repository,
+				   "realpath-path", tmp_original_cwd);
+		trace2_data_string("setup", the_repository,
+				   "realpath-failure", strerror(errno));
+		free((char*)tmp_original_cwd);
+		tmp_original_cwd = NULL;
+		return;
+	}
+
 	free((char*)tmp_original_cwd);
 	tmp_original_cwd = NULL;
 	startup_info->original_cwd = strbuf_detach(&tmp, NULL);