diff --git a/jeepyb/cmd/manage_projects.py b/jeepyb/cmd/manage_projects.py
index c6b708e..9aef64b 100644
--- a/jeepyb/cmd/manage_projects.py
+++ b/jeepyb/cmd/manage_projects.py
@@ -536,6 +536,8 @@
                 acl_config = section.get(
                     'acl-config',
                     '%s.config' % os.path.join(ACL_DIR, project))
+                if acl_config[0] != '/':
+                    acl_config = os.path.join(ACL_DIR, acl_config)
                 project_cache.setdefault(project, {})
 
                 # Create the project in Gerrit first, since it will fail