diff --git a/commitpkg.in b/commitpkg.in
index bf3a5ab..8139090 100644
--- a/commitpkg.in
+++ b/commitpkg.in
@@ -168,6 +168,16 @@ for _arch in ${arch[@]}; do
 done
 archrelease "${commit_arches[@]/#/$repo-}" || die
 
+new_uploads=()
+
+# convert to absolute paths so rsync can work with colons (epoch)
+while read -r -d '' upload; do
+	  new_uploads+=("$upload")
+done < <(realpath -z "${uploads[@]}")
+
+uploads=("${new_uploads[@]}")
+unset new_uploads
+
 if [[ ${#uploads[*]} -gt 0 ]]; then
 	msg 'Uploading all package and signature files'
 	rsync "${rsyncopts[@]}" "${uploads[@]}" "$server:staging/$repo/" || die