diff --git a/lib/mu-msg-file.c b/lib/mu-msg-file.c
index f0fa3061..eb37670a 100644
--- a/lib/mu-msg-file.c
+++ b/lib/mu-msg-file.c
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ mu_msg_file_destroy (MuMsgFile *self)
 	if (self->_mime_msg)
 		g_object_unref (self->_mime_msg);
 
+	g_free(self->_path);
+	g_free(self->_maildir);
+
 	g_slice_free (MuMsgFile, self);
 }
 
@@ -79,6 +82,12 @@ init_file_metadata (MuMsgFile *self, const char* path, const gchar* mdir,
 {
 	struct stat statbuf;
 
+	if (!g_path_is_absolute (path)) {
+		mu_util_g_set_error (err, MU_ERROR_FILE,
+				     "path '%s' is not absolute", path);
+		return FALSE;
+	}
+
 	if (access (path, R_OK) != 0) {
 		mu_util_g_set_error (err, MU_ERROR_FILE,
 				     "cannot read file %s: %s",
@@ -101,16 +110,9 @@ init_file_metadata (MuMsgFile *self, const char* path, const gchar* mdir,
 
 	self->_timestamp = statbuf.st_mtime;
 	self->_size	 = (size_t)statbuf.st_size;
+	self->_path      = g_canonicalize_filename(path, NULL);
+	self->_maildir   = g_strdup(mdir ? mdir : "");
 
-	/* remove double slashes, relative paths etc. from path & mdir */
-	if (!realpath (path, self->_path)) {
-		mu_util_g_set_error (err, MU_ERROR_FILE,
-				     "could not get realpath for %s: %s",
-				     path, strerror(errno));
-		return FALSE;
-	}
-
-	strncpy (self->_maildir, mdir ? mdir : "", PATH_MAX);
 	return TRUE;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/mu-msg-priv.h b/lib/mu-msg-priv.h
index 8f617191..58ae6d0b 100644
--- a/lib/mu-msg-priv.h
+++ b/lib/mu-msg-priv.h
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ struct _MuMsgFile {
 	GMimeMessage	*_mime_msg;
 	time_t		 _timestamp;
 	size_t		 _size;
-	char		 _path    [PATH_MAX + 1];
-	char		 _maildir [PATH_MAX + 1];
+	char	         *_path;
+	char		 *_maildir;
 };