diff --git a/include/config.h b/include/config.h
index 0c790bf2..22b0c472 100644
--- a/include/config.h
+++ b/include/config.h
@@ -126,9 +126,11 @@ struct Config {
 
 /**
  * This function resolves ~ in pathnames.
+ * It may resolve wildcards in the first part of the path, but if no match
+ * or multiple matches are found, it just returns a copy of path as given.
  *
  */
-char *glob_path(const char *path);
+char *resolve_tilde(const char *path);
 
 /**
  * Checks if the given path exists by calling stat().
diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 972e376c..fa4a6042 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <glob.h>
-#include <wordexp.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 /* We need Xlib for XStringToKeysym */
@@ -39,26 +38,32 @@ struct modes_head modes;
 
 /*
  * This function resolves ~ in pathnames.
+ * It may resolve wildcards in the first part of the path, but if no match
+ * or multiple matches are found, it just returns a copy of path as given.
  *
  */
-char *glob_path(const char *path) {
+char *resolve_tilde(const char *path) {
         static glob_t globbuf;
-        if (glob(path, GLOB_NOCHECK | GLOB_TILDE, NULL, &globbuf) < 0)
-                die("glob() failed");
-        char *result = sstrdup(globbuf.gl_pathc > 0 ? globbuf.gl_pathv[0] : path);
-        globfree(&globbuf);
+        char *head, *tail, *result;
 
-        /* If the file does not exist yet, we still may need to resolve tilde,
-         * so call wordexp */
-        if (strcmp(result, path) == 0) {
-                wordexp_t we;
-                wordexp(path, &we, WRDE_NOCMD);
-                if (we.we_wordc > 0) {
-                        free(result);
-                        result = sstrdup(we.we_wordv[0]);
-                }
-                wordfree(&we);
+        tail = strchr(path, '/');
+        head = strndup(path, tail ? tail - path : strlen(path));
+
+        int res = glob(head, GLOB_TILDE, NULL, &globbuf);
+        free(head);
+        /* no match, or many wildcard matches are bad */
+        if(res == GLOB_NOMATCH || globbuf.gl_pathc != 1)
+                result = sstrdup(path);
+        else if (res != 0) {
+                die("glob() failed");
         }
+        else {
+                head = globbuf.gl_pathv[0];
+                result = smalloc(strlen(head) + (tail ? strlen(tail) : 0) + 1);
+                strncpy(result, head, strlen(head));
+                strncat(result, tail, strlen(tail));
+        }
+        globfree(&globbuf);
 
         return result;
 }
@@ -239,7 +244,7 @@ static char *get_config_path() {
         if ((xdg_config_home = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")) == NULL)
                 xdg_config_home = "~/.config";
 
-        xdg_config_home = glob_path(xdg_config_home);
+        xdg_config_home = resolve_tilde(xdg_config_home);
         if (asprintf(&config_path, "%s/i3/config", xdg_config_home) == -1)
                 die("asprintf() failed");
         free(xdg_config_home);
@@ -255,7 +260,7 @@ static char *get_config_path() {
         char *buf = strdup(xdg_config_dirs);
         char *tok = strtok(buf, ":");
         while (tok != NULL) {
-                tok = glob_path(tok);
+                tok = resolve_tilde(tok);
                 if (asprintf(&config_path, "%s/i3/config", tok) == -1)
                         die("asprintf() failed");
                 free(tok);
@@ -269,7 +274,7 @@ static char *get_config_path() {
         free(buf);
 
         /* 3: check traditional paths */
-        config_path = glob_path("~/.i3/config");
+        config_path = resolve_tilde("~/.i3/config");
         if (path_exists(config_path))
                 return config_path;
 
diff --git a/src/ipc.c b/src/ipc.c
index 3dd95653..fcda355e 100644
--- a/src/ipc.c
+++ b/src/ipc.c
@@ -502,20 +502,20 @@ void ipc_new_client(EV_P_ struct ev_io *w, int revents) {
 int ipc_create_socket(const char *filename) {
         int sockfd;
 
-        char *globbed = glob_path(filename);
-        DLOG("Creating IPC-socket at %s\n", globbed);
-        char *copy = sstrdup(globbed);
+        char *resolved = resolve_tilde(filename);
+        DLOG("Creating IPC-socket at %s\n", resolved);
+        char *copy = sstrdup(resolved);
         const char *dir = dirname(copy);
         if (!path_exists(dir))
                 mkdirp(dir);
         free(copy);
 
         /* Unlink the unix domain socket before */
-        unlink(globbed);
+        unlink(resolved);
 
         if ((sockfd = socket(AF_LOCAL, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
                 perror("socket()");
-                free(globbed);
+                free(resolved);
                 return -1;
         }
 
@@ -524,14 +524,14 @@ int ipc_create_socket(const char *filename) {
         struct sockaddr_un addr;
         memset(&addr, 0, sizeof(struct sockaddr_un));
         addr.sun_family = AF_LOCAL;
-        strcpy(addr.sun_path, globbed);
+        strncpy(addr.sun_path, resolved, sizeof(addr.sun_path) - 1);
         if (bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_un)) < 0) {
                 perror("bind()");
-                free(globbed);
+                free(resolved);
                 return -1;
         }
 
-        free(globbed);
+        free(resolved);
         set_nonblock(sockfd);
 
         if (listen(sockfd, 5) < 0) {