diff --git a/lib/Parrot/Configure/Options.pm b/lib/Parrot/Configure/Options.pm
index c21839ccc6..8ad5aafe64 100644
--- a/lib/Parrot/Configure/Options.pm
+++ b/lib/Parrot/Configure/Options.pm
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ our @EXPORT_OK = qw(
     process_options
 );
 use Carp;
+use File::Spec;
 use lib qw( lib );
 use Parrot::Configure::Options::Conf::CLI ();
 use Parrot::Configure::Options::Conf::File ();
@@ -92,8 +93,9 @@ sub _initial_pass {
         unless ( $valid_opts{$key} ) {
             die qq/Invalid option "$key". See "perl $script --help" for valid options\n/;
         }
-        if ( $key eq 'prefix' and $value !~ m[^/] ) {
-            die qq/Relative path given to --prefix, please pass an absolute path\n/;
+        if ( $key eq 'prefix' and
+            ! File::Spec->file_name_is_absolute( $value) ) {
+            die qq/Relative path given to --prefix, please pass an absolute path/;
         }
         if ( $options_components->{short_circuits}{$key} ) {
             push @short_circuits_seen, $key;
diff --git a/t/configure/001-options.t b/t/configure/001-options.t
index 96fb10d66c..9fa9ffc341 100644
--- a/t/configure/001-options.t
+++ b/t/configure/001-options.t
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ BEGIN {
     our $topdir = realpath($Bin) . "/../..";
     unshift @INC, qq{$topdir/lib};
 }
-use Test::More tests => 51;
+use Test::More tests => 52;
 use Carp;
 use Parrot::Configure::Options qw| process_options |;
 use Parrot::Configure::Options::Conf::CLI ();
@@ -88,6 +88,16 @@ like(
     "process_options() failed due to invalid 'mode' argument"
 );
 
+eval { ($args, $step_list_ref) = process_options( {
+    argv => [ '--prefix=my/relative/path' ],
+    mode => q{configure}, } );
+};
+like(
+    $@,
+    qr/Relative path given to --prefix, please pass an absolute path/,
+    "process_options() failed due to relative path as value of 'prefix'",
+);
+
 ($args, $step_list_ref) = process_options(
     {
         mode => q{configure},