diff --git a/authors.txt b/authors.txt
index 0c575e723..ab438b75f 100644
--- a/authors.txt
+++ b/authors.txt
@@ -73,3 +73,4 @@ Joe Baldino
 Peter Harris
 Roger Boerdijk
 melak47
+Philipp Ittershagen
diff --git a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
index 0c6d9809a..af2c17d60 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
@@ -2290,7 +2290,11 @@ class Interpreter(InterpreterBase):
                 inputfile = inputfile[0]
             if not isinstance(inputfile, (str, mesonlib.File)):
                 raise InterpreterException('Input must be a string or a file')
-            ifile_abs = os.path.join(self.environment.source_dir, self.subdir, inputfile)
+            if isinstance(inputfile, str):
+                inputfile = os.path.join(self.subdir, inputfile)
+            else:
+                inputfile = inputfile.relative_name()
+            ifile_abs = os.path.join(self.environment.source_dir, inputfile)
         elif 'command' in kwargs and '@INPUT@' in kwargs['command']:
             raise InterpreterException('@INPUT@ used as command argument, but no input file specified.')
         # Validate output
@@ -2309,7 +2313,7 @@ class Interpreter(InterpreterBase):
             if inputfile is not None:
                 # Normalize the path of the conffile to avoid duplicates
                 # This is especially important to convert '/' to '\' on Windows
-                conffile = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(self.subdir, inputfile))
+                conffile = os.path.normpath(inputfile)
                 if conffile not in self.build_def_files:
                     self.build_def_files.append(conffile)
                 os.makedirs(os.path.join(self.environment.build_dir, self.subdir), exist_ok=True)
diff --git a/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py b/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
index 7a5b96266..ba52219db 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/mesonlib.py
@@ -125,14 +125,14 @@ class File:
         assert(isinstance(self.fname, str))
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return os.path.join(self.subdir, self.fname)
+        return self.relative_name()
 
     def __repr__(self):
         ret = '<File: {0}'
         if not self.is_built:
             ret += ' (not built)'
         ret += '>'
-        return ret.format(os.path.join(self.subdir, self.fname))
+        return ret.format(self.relative_name())
 
     @staticmethod
     def from_source_file(source_root, subdir, fname):
@@ -150,15 +150,15 @@ class File:
 
     def rel_to_builddir(self, build_to_src):
         if self.is_built:
-            return os.path.join(self.subdir, self.fname)
+            return self.relative_name()
         else:
             return os.path.join(build_to_src, self.subdir, self.fname)
 
     def absolute_path(self, srcdir, builddir):
+        absdir = srcdir
         if self.is_built:
-            return os.path.join(builddir, self.subdir, self.fname)
-        else:
-            return os.path.join(srcdir, self.subdir, self.fname)
+            absdir = builddir
+        return os.path.join(absdir, self.relative_name())
 
     def endswith(self, ending):
         return self.fname.endswith(ending)
diff --git a/test cases/common/16 configure file/meson.build b/test cases/common/16 configure file/meson.build
index 8271ca3cb..8ffc28cc3 100644
--- a/test cases/common/16 configure file/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/16 configure file/meson.build	
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ e = executable('inctest', 'prog.c',
 cfile)
 test('inctest', e)
 
+# Test if we can also pass files() as input
+configure_file(input : files('config.h.in'),
+               output : 'config2.h',
+               configuration : conf)
+
 # Now generate a header file with an external script.
 genprog = import('python3').find_python()
 scriptfile = '@0@/generator.py'.format(meson.current_source_dir())