diff --git a/Source/cmGetFilenameComponentCommand.cxx b/Source/cmGetFilenameComponentCommand.cxx
index 31b833600..1a31d5428 100644
--- a/Source/cmGetFilenameComponentCommand.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGetFilenameComponentCommand.cxx
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ bool cmGetFilenameComponentCommand
     if(args[2] == "REALPATH")
       {
       // Resolve symlinks if possible
-      result = cmSystemTools::GetRealPath(filename.c_str());
+      result = cmSystemTools::GetRealPath(result.c_str());
       }
     }
   else 
diff --git a/Tests/CMakeTests/GetFilenameComponentRealpathTest.cmake.in b/Tests/CMakeTests/GetFilenameComponentRealpathTest.cmake.in
index c795512a2..7adc240f0 100644
--- a/Tests/CMakeTests/GetFilenameComponentRealpathTest.cmake.in
+++ b/Tests/CMakeTests/GetFilenameComponentRealpathTest.cmake.in
@@ -12,6 +12,21 @@ if(NOT nonexistent2 STREQUAL "${bindir}/THIS_IS_A_NONEXISTENT_FILE")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "ABSOLUTE is not preserving nonexistent files")
 endif()
 
+#
+# Test treatment of relative paths
+#
+foreach(c REALPATH ABSOLUTE)
+  get_filename_component(dir "subdir/THIS_IS_A_NONEXISTENT_FILE" ${c})
+  if(NOT "${dir}" STREQUAL "${bindir}/subdir/THIS_IS_A_NONEXISTENT_FILE")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR
+      "${c} does not handle relative paths.  Expected:\n"
+      "  ${bindir}/subdir/THIS_IS_A_NONEXISTENT_FILE\n"
+      "but got:\n"
+      "  ${nonexistent1}\n"
+      )
+  endif()
+endforeach()
+
 #
 # Test symbolic link resolution
 #