diff --git a/common/config b/common/config
index e82d2795..cb34fd79 100644
--- a/common/config
+++ b/common/config
@@ -551,5 +551,10 @@ if [ -z "$CONFIG_INCLUDED" ]; then
 	[ -z "$FSCK_OPTIONS" ] && _fsck_opts
 fi
 
+# canonicalize the mount points
+# this follows symlinks and removes all trailing "/"s
+export TEST_DIR=`readlink -e "$TEST_DIR"`
+export SCRATCH_MNT=`readlink -e "$SCRATCH_MNT"`
+
 # make sure this script returns success
 /bin/true