diff --git a/line-log.c b/line-log.c
index 8b6e497b3ff187ee328cba395f30d3db7f86c0b4..717638b333b680da7a3a5acefcb73db9d956a00f 100644
--- a/line-log.c
+++ b/line-log.c
@@ -760,7 +760,8 @@ void line_log_init(struct rev_info *rev, const char *prefix, struct string_list
 			r = r->next;
 		}
 		paths[count] = NULL;
-		parse_pathspec(&rev->diffopt.pathspec, 0, 0, "", paths);
+		parse_pathspec(&rev->diffopt.pathspec, 0,
+			       PATHSPEC_PREFER_FULL, "", paths);
 		free(paths);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/revision.c b/revision.c
index 7e03e154f446d2c105150cecea8c50fdc8e5238a..3fdea51ffed4839c6c30f34b45d67f5e95ab6cc2 100644
--- a/revision.c
+++ b/revision.c
@@ -1372,7 +1372,8 @@ static void prepare_show_merge(struct rev_info *revs)
 			i++;
 	}
 	free_pathspec(&revs->prune_data);
-	parse_pathspec(&revs->prune_data, PATHSPEC_ALL_MAGIC, 0, "", prune);
+	parse_pathspec(&revs->prune_data, PATHSPEC_ALL_MAGIC,
+		       PATHSPEC_PREFER_FULL, "", prune);
 	revs->limited = 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
index 72300b5f244504540a551854cb82f81cf5391a55..d8f23f488e00dad97eeb5d22f5f0db01bcab8021 100755
--- a/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
+++ b/t/t4208-log-magic-pathspec.sh
@@ -46,4 +46,19 @@ test_expect_success 'git log HEAD -- :/' '
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'command line pathspec parsing for "git log"' '
+	git reset --hard &&
+	>a &&
+	git add a &&
+	git commit -m "add an empty a" --allow-empty &&
+	echo 1 >a &&
+	git commit -a -m "update a to 1" &&
+	git checkout HEAD^ &&
+	echo 2 >a &&
+	git commit -a -m "update a to 2" &&
+	test_must_fail git merge master &&
+	git add a &&
+	git log --merge -- a
+'
+
 test_done