diff --git a/src/basic/conf-files.c b/src/basic/conf-files.c
index 5ae1591178a..2fb7ffa9267 100644
--- a/src/basic/conf-files.c
+++ b/src/basic/conf-files.c
@@ -120,7 +120,9 @@ static int files_add(
 }
 
 static int base_cmp(char * const *a, char * const *b) {
-        return strcmp(basename(*a), basename(*b));
+        assert(a);
+        assert(b);
+        return path_compare_filename(*a, *b);
 }
 
 int conf_files_list_strv(