diff --git a/changelog b/changelog
--- a/changelog
+++ b/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+zip-archive 0.4.1
+
+  * writEntry behavior change: Improve raising of UnsafePath error (#55).
+    Previously we raised this error spuriously when archives were unpacked
+    outside the working directory.  Now we raise it if eRelativePath contains
+    ".." as a path component, or eRelativePath path is an absolute path and
+    there is no separate destination directory.  (Note that `/foo/bar` is fine
+    as a path as long as a destination directory, e.g. `/usr/local`, is
+    specified.)
+
 zip-archive 0.4
 
   * Implement read-only support for PKWARE encryption (Sergii Rudchenko).
diff --git a/src/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs b/src/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
--- a/src/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
+++ b/src/Codec/Archive/Zip.hs
@@ -77,15 +77,14 @@
 import Data.Binary
 import Data.Binary.Get
 import Data.Binary.Put
-import Data.List (nub, find, intercalate, isPrefixOf, isInfixOf)
+import Data.List (nub, find, intercalate)
 import Data.Data (Data)
 import Data.Typeable (Typeable)
 import Text.Printf
 import System.FilePath
 import System.Directory
        (doesDirectoryExist, getDirectoryContents,
-        createDirectoryIfMissing, getModificationTime, getCurrentDirectory,
-        makeAbsolute)
+        createDirectoryIfMissing, getModificationTime)
 import Control.Monad ( when, unless, zipWithM_ )
 import qualified Control.Exception as E
 import System.IO ( stderr, hPutStrLn )
@@ -350,14 +349,16 @@
 writeEntry opts entry = do
   when (isEncryptedEntry entry) $
     E.throwIO $ CannotWriteEncryptedEntry (eRelativePath entry)
-  let path = case [d | OptDestination d <- opts] of
-                  (x:_) -> x </> eRelativePath entry
-                  _     -> eRelativePath entry
-  absPath <- makeAbsolute path
-  curDir <- getCurrentDirectory
-  let isUnsafePath = ".." `isInfixOf` absPath ||
-                     not (curDir `isPrefixOf` absPath)
-  when isUnsafePath $ E.throwIO $ UnsafePath path
+  let relpath = eRelativePath entry
+  let isUnsafePath = ".." `elem` splitDirectories relpath
+  when isUnsafePath $
+    E.throwIO $ UnsafePath relpath
+  path <- case [d | OptDestination d <- opts] of
+             (x:_) -> return (x </> relpath)
+             _ | isAbsolute relpath
+                   -> E.throwIO $ UnsafePath relpath
+               | otherwise
+                   -> return relpath
   -- create directories if needed
   let dir = takeDirectory path
   exists <- doesDirectoryExist dir
diff --git a/zip-archive.cabal b/zip-archive.cabal
--- a/zip-archive.cabal
+++ b/zip-archive.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                zip-archive
-Version:             0.4
+Version:             0.4.1
 Cabal-Version:       2.0
 Build-type:          Simple
 Synopsis:            Library for creating and modifying zip archives.