diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e7b8b7f8..f6e7d2a4 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 xbps-0.44 (???):
 
+ * xbps-create(8): properly detect target of relative symlinks in some cases.
+
  * libxbps: make sure that symlinks with relative target are detected and removed
    properly. Fix #78: https://github.com/voidlinux/xbps/issues/78
 
diff --git a/bin/xbps-create/main.c b/bin/xbps-create/main.c
index 9e655990..f09a114f 100644
--- a/bin/xbps-create/main.c
+++ b/bin/xbps-create/main.c
@@ -303,7 +303,8 @@ ftw_cb(const char *fpath, const struct stat *sb, int type, struct FTW *ftwbuf _u
 				free(p2);
 				free(p);
 			}
-		} else if (strchr(buf, '/') == NULL) {
+		} else if (buf[0] != '/') {
+			/* relative path */
 			p = strdup(filep);
 			assert(p);
 			dname = dirname(p);
diff --git a/tests/xbps/xbps-create/basic_test.sh b/tests/xbps/xbps-create/basic_test.sh
index 67690476..d7124030 100644
--- a/tests/xbps/xbps-create/basic_test.sh
+++ b/tests/xbps/xbps-create/basic_test.sh
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ hardlinks_size_body() {
 	cd ..
 	xbps-rindex -d -a repo/*.xbps
 	atf_check_equal $? 0
-	result="$(xbps-query -r root -C empty.conf --repository=$PWD/repo -p installed_size foo)"
+	result="$(xbps-query -r root --repository=repo -p installed_size foo)"
 	expected="10B"
 	rv=0
 	if [ "$result" != "$expected" ]; then
@@ -30,6 +30,35 @@ hardlinks_size_body() {
 	atf_check_equal $rv 0
 }
 
+atf_test_case symlink_relative_target
+
+symlink_relative_target_head() {
+	atf_set "descr" "xbps-create(8): relative symlinks in destdir must be absolute"
+}
+
+symlink_relative_target_body() {
+	mkdir -p repo pkg_A/usr/include/gsm
+	touch -f pkg_A/usr/include/gsm/gsm.h
+	cd pkg_A/usr/include
+	ln -s gsm/gsm.h gsm.h
+	cd ../../../repo
+	xbps-create -A noarch -n foo-1.0_1 -s "foo pkg" ../pkg_A
+	atf_check_equal $? 0
+	cd ..
+	xbps-rindex -d -a repo/*.xbps
+	atf_check_equal $? 0
+	result="$(xbps-query -r root --repository=repo -f foo|tr -d '\n')"
+	expected="/usr/include/gsm/gsm.h/usr/include/gsm.h -> /usr/include/gsm/gsm.h"
+	rv=0
+	if [ "$result" != "$expected" ]; then
+		echo "result: $result"
+		echo "expected: $expected"
+		rv=1
+	fi
+	atf_check_equal $rv 0
+}
+
 atf_init_test_cases() {
 	atf_add_test_case hardlinks_size
+	atf_add_test_case symlink_relative_target
 }