diff --git a/src/core/core.c b/src/core/core.c
index 0a8ebd44..04885ec3 100644
--- a/src/core/core.c
+++ b/src/core/core.c
@@ -234,10 +234,15 @@ void core_preinit(const char *path)
 		len = strlen(irssi_dir);
 		if (irssi_dir[len - 1] == G_DIR_SEPARATOR)
 			irssi_dir[len - 1] = '\0';
+		/* all special XDG paths are equal to irssi_dir if XDG is not
+		 * supported */
+		irssi_cache_dir = irssi_dir;
+		irssi_runtime_dir = irssi_dir;
 	}
 	if (irssi_config_file == NULL)
-	   irssi_config_file = use_xdg ? g_build_filename(g_get_user_config_dir(), "irssi", IRSSI_HOME_CONFIG, NULL) :
-	      g_strdup_printf("%s/" IRSSI_HOME_CONFIG, irssi_dir);
+		irssi_config_file = use_xdg ? g_build_filename(g_get_user_config_dir(), "irssi",
+		                                               IRSSI_HOME_CONFIG, NULL) :
+                                              g_strdup_printf("%s/" IRSSI_HOME_CONFIG, irssi_dir);
 	else {
 		str = irssi_config_file;
 		irssi_config_file = fix_path(str);
diff --git a/src/core/settings.c b/src/core/settings.c
index c16427a0..46682d69 100644
--- a/src/core/settings.c
+++ b/src/core/settings.c
@@ -783,8 +783,8 @@ static void init_configfile(void)
 	char *str;
 
 	init_ensure_dir(get_irssi_dir(), 0700); /* XDG_DATA_HOME or ~/.irssi*/
-	if (get_irssi_dir() != get_irssi_cache_dir() &&
-	    get_irssi_dir() != get_irssi_runtime_dir()) {
+	if (!strcmp(get_irssi_dir(), get_irssi_cache_dir()) &&
+	    !strcmp(get_irssi_dir(), get_irssi_runtime_dir())) {
 		init_ensure_dir(get_irssi_cache_dir(), 0700);   /* XDG_CACHE_HOME */
 		init_ensure_dir(get_irssi_runtime_dir(), 0700); /* XDG_RUNTIME_HOME */
 	}