diff --git a/guix/profiles.scm b/guix/profiles.scm
index d2a794b18..f34f4fcff 100644
--- a/guix/profiles.scm
+++ b/guix/profiles.scm
@@ -1521,7 +1521,7 @@ the generation that was current before switching."
                               (profile profile)
                               (generation number)))))
           (else
-           (switch-symlinks profile generation)
+           (switch-symlinks profile (basename generation))
            current))))
 
 (define (switch-to-previous-generation profile)
diff --git a/guix/scripts/package.scm b/guix/scripts/package.scm
index 29829f52c..b38a55d01 100644
--- a/guix/scripts/package.scm
+++ b/guix/scripts/package.scm
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ do not treat collisions in MANIFEST as an error."
              (let* ((entries (manifest-entries manifest))
                     (count   (length entries)))
                (switch-symlinks name prof)
-               (switch-symlinks profile name)
+               (switch-symlinks profile (basename name))
                (unless (string=? profile %current-profile)
                  (register-gc-root store name))
                (format #t (N_ "~a package in profile~%"
diff --git a/tests/guix-package.sh b/tests/guix-package.sh
index 3b3fa35cd..3833b568a 100644
--- a/tests/guix-package.sh
+++ b/tests/guix-package.sh
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ do
     guix package --bootstrap --roll-back
     ! test -f "$HOME/.guix-profile/bin"
     ! test -f "$HOME/.guix-profile/lib"
-    test "`readlink "$default_profile"`" = "$default_profile-0-link"
+    test "`readlink "$default_profile"`" = "`basename $default_profile-0-link`"
 done
 
 # Check whether '-p ~/.guix-profile' makes any difference.