diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters b/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c4e86e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
+<component id="org.eclipse.jgit" version="2">
+    <resource path="src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/TypedConfigGetter.java" type="org.eclipse.jgit.lib.TypedConfigGetter">
+        <filter id="404000815">
+            <message_arguments>
+                <message_argument value="org.eclipse.jgit.lib.TypedConfigGetter"/>
+                <message_argument value="getPath(Config, String, String, String, FS, File, Path)"/>
+            </message_arguments>
+        </filter>
+    </resource>
+</component>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
index a51593b..a369026 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.nio.file.InvalidPathException;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -29,6 +32,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.annotations.NonNull;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.ConfigInvalidException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.events.ConfigChangedEvent;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.events.ConfigChangedListener;
@@ -36,6 +40,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.events.ListenerList;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.JGitText;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RefSpec;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
 
 /**
@@ -475,6 +480,37 @@
 	}
 
 	/**
+	 * Parse a string value and treat it as a file path, replacing a ~/ prefix
+	 * by the user's home directory.
+	 * <p>
+	 * <b>Note:</b> this may throw {@link InvalidPathException} if the string is
+	 * not a valid path.
+	 * </p>
+	 *
+	 * @param section
+	 *            section the key is in.
+	 * @param subsection
+	 *            subsection the key is in, or null if not in a subsection.
+	 * @param name
+	 *            the key name.
+	 * @param fs
+	 *            to use to convert the string into a path.
+	 * @param resolveAgainst
+	 *            directory to resolve the path against if it is a relative
+	 *            path; {@code null} to use the Java process's current
+	 *            directory.
+	 * @param defaultValue
+	 *            to return if no value was present
+	 * @return the {@link Path}, or {@code defaultValue} if not set
+	 * @since 5.10
+	 */
+	public Path getPath(String section, String subsection, String name,
+			@NonNull FS fs, File resolveAgainst, Path defaultValue) {
+		return typedGetter.getPath(this, section, subsection, name, fs,
+				resolveAgainst, defaultValue);
+	}
+
+	/**
 	 * Parse a list of {@link org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RefSpec}s from the
 	 * configuration.
 	 *
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/TypedConfigGetter.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/TypedConfigGetter.java
index dd4be34..0f2f6cf 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/TypedConfigGetter.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/TypedConfigGetter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) 2017, Thomas Wolf <thomas.wolf@paranor.ch> and others
+ * Copyright (C) 2017, 2020 Thomas Wolf <thomas.wolf@paranor.ch> and others
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 which is available at
@@ -10,22 +10,26 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jgit.lib;
 
+import java.io.File;
+import java.nio.file.InvalidPathException;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import org.eclipse.jgit.annotations.NonNull;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RefSpec;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 
 /**
- * Something that knows how to convert plain strings from a git
- * {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config} to typed values.
+ * Something that knows how to convert plain strings from a git {@link Config}
+ * to typed values.
  *
  * @since 4.9
  */
 public interface TypedConfigGetter {
 
 	/**
-	 * Get a boolean value from a git {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * Get a boolean value from a git {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the value from
@@ -44,7 +48,7 @@
 			String name, boolean defaultValue);
 
 	/**
-	 * Parse an enumeration from a git {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * Parse an enumeration from a git {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the value from
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@
 			String subsection, String name, T defaultValue);
 
 	/**
-	 * Obtain an integer value from a git {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * Obtain an integer value from a git {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the value from
@@ -83,7 +87,7 @@
 			int defaultValue);
 
 	/**
-	 * Obtain a long value from a git {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * Obtain a long value from a git {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the value from
@@ -102,7 +106,7 @@
 
 	/**
 	 * Parse a numerical time unit, such as "1 minute", from a git
-	 * {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the value from
@@ -124,10 +128,50 @@
 	long getTimeUnit(Config config, String section, String subsection,
 			String name, long defaultValue, TimeUnit wantUnit);
 
+	/**
+	 * Parse a string value from a git {@link Config} and treat it as a file
+	 * path, replacing a ~/ prefix by the user's home directory.
+	 * <p>
+	 * <b>Note:</b> this may throw {@link InvalidPathException} if the string is
+	 * not a valid path.
+	 * </p>
+	 *
+	 * @param config
+	 *            to get the path from.
+	 * @param section
+	 *            section the key is in.
+	 * @param subsection
+	 *            subsection the key is in, or null if not in a subsection.
+	 * @param name
+	 *            the key name.
+	 * @param fs
+	 *            to use to convert the string into a path.
+	 * @param resolveAgainst
+	 *            directory to resolve the path against if it is a relative
+	 *            path.
+	 * @param defaultValue
+	 *            to return if no value was present
+	 * @return the {@link Path}, or {@code defaultValue} if not set
+	 * @since 5.10
+	 */
+	default Path getPath(Config config, String section, String subsection,
+			String name, @NonNull FS fs, File resolveAgainst,
+			Path defaultValue) {
+		String value = config.getString(section, subsection, name);
+		if (value == null) {
+			return defaultValue;
+		}
+		File file;
+		if (value.startsWith("~/")) { //$NON-NLS-1$
+			file = fs.resolve(fs.userHome(), value.substring(2));
+		} else {
+			file = fs.resolve(resolveAgainst, value);
+		}
+		return file.toPath();
+	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Parse a list of {@link org.eclipse.jgit.transport.RefSpec}s from a git
-	 * {@link org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config}.
+	 * Parse a list of {@link RefSpec}s from a git {@link Config}.
 	 *
 	 * @param config
 	 *            to get the list from
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
index 4c26dd0..72278dc 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.nio.CharBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.CharacterCodingException;
 import java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.time.Instant;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -48,8 +49,8 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.ignore.FastIgnoreRule;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.ignore.IgnoreNode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.JGitText;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ConfigConstants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
-import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.CheckStat;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.EolStreamType;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.SymLinks;
@@ -1308,15 +1309,11 @@
 			}
 
 			FS fs = repository.getFS();
-			String path = repository.getConfig().get(CoreConfig.KEY)
-					.getExcludesFile();
+			Path path = repository.getConfig().getPath(
+					ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
+					ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_EXCLUDESFILE, fs, null, null);
 			if (path != null) {
-				File excludesfile;
-				if (path.startsWith("~/")) //$NON-NLS-1$
-					excludesfile = fs.resolve(fs.userHome(), path.substring(2));
-				else
-					excludesfile = fs.resolve(null, path);
-				loadRulesFromFile(r, excludesfile);
+				loadRulesFromFile(r, path.toFile());
 			}
 
 			File exclude = fs.resolve(repository.getDirectory(),