diff --git a/tests/testutils.py b/tests/testutils.py
index 7c0d9bf8cf36b1e8b11358162fc79389d3b19fc0..6fe711e7b8a043fb247abffa581804c896e06f20 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.py
+++ b/tests/testutils.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class BaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
         artifacts = os.getenv('AUTOPKGTEST_ARTIFACTS')
 
         if artifacts is not None:
-            self.artifacts = artifacts
+            self.artifacts = os.path.abspath(artifacts)
         else:
             self.artifacts = self.tmpdir.name