diff --git a/libs/util/sys.c b/libs/util/sys.c
index eaa058df5..86beacc22 100644
--- a/libs/util/sys.c
+++ b/libs/util/sys.c
@@ -481,6 +481,9 @@ Sys_DebugLog (const char *file, const char *fmt, ...)
 	va_list     args;
 	static dstring_t *data;
 	int         fd;
+	char        path[PATH_MAX];
+
+	Qexpand_squiggle (file, path);
 
 	if (!data)
 		data = dstring_newstr ();
@@ -488,7 +491,7 @@ Sys_DebugLog (const char *file, const char *fmt, ...)
 	va_start (args, fmt);
 	dvsprintf (data, fmt, args);
 	va_end (args);
-	fd = open (file, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_APPEND, 0666);
+	fd = open (path, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_APPEND, 0666);
 	write (fd, data->str, data->size - 1);
 	close (fd);
 }