diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index a31d28391..06aa3945b 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2000-05-23  DJ Delorie  <dj@cygnus.com>
+
+	* dir.cc (writable_directory): handle root directories
+
 Tue May 23 10:09:26 2000  Christopher Faylor <cgf@cygnus.com>
 
 	* uname.cc (uname): Use a "s" to denote a snapshot to avoid confusion
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/dir.cc b/winsup/cygwin/dir.cc
index d93f2e62c..f3a869cd3 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/dir.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/dir.cc
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ writable_directory (const char *file)
   char *slash = strrchr (dir, '\\');
   if (slash == NULL)
     usedir = ".";
+  else if (slash == dir)
+    {
+      usedir = "\\";
+    }
   else
     {
       *slash = '\0';