diff --git a/man/journalctl.xml b/man/journalctl.xml
index 632a8134d..8883da278 100644
--- a/man/journalctl.xml
+++ b/man/journalctl.xml
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@
                                 <term><option>-D</option></term>
                                 <term><option>--directory=</option></term>
 
-                                <listitem><para>Takes an absolute
+                                <listitem><para>Takes a
                                 directory path as argument. If
                                 specified journalctl will operate on the
                                 specified journal directory instead of
diff --git a/src/journal/sd-journal.c b/src/journal/sd-journal.c
index 7ffbaf7cb..ef4b9b224 100644
--- a/src/journal/sd-journal.c
+++ b/src/journal/sd-journal.c
@@ -1596,7 +1596,7 @@ _public_ int sd_journal_open_directory(sd_journal **ret, const char *path, int f
         if (!ret)
                 return -EINVAL;
 
-        if (!path || !path_is_absolute(path))
+        if (!path)
                 return -EINVAL;
 
         if (flags != 0)