diff a/src/rrd_daemon.c b/src/rrd_daemon.c
--- a/src/rrd_daemon.c
+++ b/src/rrd_daemon.c
@@ -3090,8 +3090,7 @@ static int read_options (int argc, char **argv) /* {{{ */
       case 'j':
       {
         char journal_dir_actual[PATH_MAX];
-        const char *dir;
-        dir = journal_dir = strdup(realpath((const char *)optarg, journal_dir_actual));
+        const char *dir = (const char *)optarg;
 
         status = rrd_mkdir_p(dir, 0777);
         if (status != 0)
@@ -3100,8 +3099,16 @@ static int read_options (int argc, char **argv) /* {{{ */
               dir, rrd_strerror(errno));
           return 6;
         }
+        journal_dir = realpath((const char *)dir, journal_dir_actual);
+        if (! journal_dir) {
+          fprintf(stderr, "Failed to canonicalize journal directory '%s': %s\n",
+              dir, rrd_strerror(errno));
+          return 6;
+        }
+
+        journal_dir = strdup(journal_dir);
 
-        if (access(dir, R_OK|W_OK|X_OK) != 0)
+        if (access(journal_dir, R_OK|W_OK|X_OK) != 0)
         {
           fprintf(stderr, "Must specify a writable directory with -j! (%s)\n",
                   errno ? rrd_strerror(errno) : "");