diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index d3a6de81d3..b945d67bc0 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -1669,11 +1669,12 @@ http.emptyAuth::
 	authentication.
 
 http.cookieFile::
-	File containing previously stored cookie lines which should be used
+	The pathname of a file containing previously stored cookie lines,
+	which should be used
 	in the Git http session, if they match the server. The file format
 	of the file to read cookies from should be plain HTTP headers or
 	the Netscape/Mozilla cookie file format (see `curl(1)`).
-	NOTE that the file specified with http.cookieFile is only used as
+	NOTE that the file specified with http.cookieFile is used only as
 	input unless http.saveCookies is set.
 
 http.saveCookies::
diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 4304b80ad3..1044f9ba0e 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ static int http_options(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return git_config_string(&http_proxy_authmethod, var, value);
 
 	if (!strcmp("http.cookiefile", var))
-		return git_config_string(&curl_cookie_file, var, value);
+		return git_config_pathname(&curl_cookie_file, var, value);
 	if (!strcmp("http.savecookies", var)) {
 		curl_save_cookies = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;