diff --git a/src/libutil/args.cc b/src/libutil/args.cc
index 38c748be0..b60c609a6 100644
--- a/src/libutil/args.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/args.cc
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ static void _completePath(std::string_view prefix, bool onlyDirs)
     if (glob((std::string(prefix) + "*").c_str(), flags, nullptr, &globbuf) == 0) {
         for (size_t i = 0; i < globbuf.gl_pathc; ++i) {
             if (onlyDirs) {
-                auto st = lstat(globbuf.gl_pathv[i]);
+                auto st = stat(globbuf.gl_pathv[i]);
                 if (!S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) continue;
             }
             completions->add(globbuf.gl_pathv[i]);
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index b833038a9..deaa17a7f 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -215,6 +215,15 @@ bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir)
 }
 
 
+struct stat stat(const Path & path)
+{
+    struct stat st;
+    if (stat(path.c_str(), &st))
+        throw SysError("getting status of '%1%'", path);
+    return st;
+}
+
+
 struct stat lstat(const Path & path)
 {
     struct stat st;
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index 20591952d..94ae8ab7d 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ bool isInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
 bool isDirOrInDir(std::string_view path, std::string_view dir);
 
 /* Get status of `path'. */
+struct stat stat(const Path & path);
 struct stat lstat(const Path & path);
 
 /* Return true iff the given path exists. */