diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/hooks/licensing.py b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/licensing.py
index 9b5a2728ed..515935e8d4 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/hooks/licensing.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/hooks/licensing.py
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ def symlink_license(pkg):
     target = pkg.global_license_file
     for filename in pkg.license_files:
         link_name = join_path(pkg.prefix, filename)
+        link_name = os.path.abspath(link_name)
         license_dir = os.path.dirname(link_name)
         if not os.path.exists(license_dir):
             mkdirp(license_dir)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-parallel-studio/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-parallel-studio/package.py
index ccfac3c9a9..e8ac829757 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-parallel-studio/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/intel-parallel-studio/package.py
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ def rpath_configuration(self):
             for compiler in ['icc', 'icpc', 'ifort']:
                 cfgfilename = os.path.join(
                     self.prefix, self.bin_dir, '{0}.cfg'.format(compiler))
+                cfgfilename = os.path.abspath(cfgfilename)
                 with open(cfgfilename, 'w') as f:
                     f.write('-Xlinker -rpath -Xlinker {0}\n'.format(lib_dir))
 
@@ -443,7 +444,7 @@ def fix_psxevars(self):
 
         bindir = glob.glob(join_path(
             self.prefix, 'parallel_studio*', 'bin'))[0]
-
+        bindir = os.path.abspath(bindir)
         if self.version[1] > 2016:
             filter_file('^SCRIPTPATH=.*', 'SCRIPTPATH={0}'.format(self.prefix),
                         os.path.join(bindir, 'psxevars.sh'),