NEEDS_LIBRT = YesPlease
        HAVE_GETDELIM = YesPlease
        SANE_TEXT_GREP=-a
+       FREAD_READS_DIRECTORIES = UnfortunatelyYes
 endif
 ifeq ($(uname_S),GNU/kFreeBSD)
        HAVE_ALLOCA_H = YesPlease
        HAVE_PATHS_H = YesPlease
        DIR_HAS_BSD_GROUP_SEMANTICS = YesPlease
        LIBC_CONTAINS_LIBINTL = YesPlease
+       FREAD_READS_DIRECTORIES = UnfortunatelyYes
 endif
 ifeq ($(uname_S),UnixWare)
        CC = cc
        GMTIME_UNRELIABLE_ERRORS = UnfortunatelyYes
        HAVE_BSD_SYSCTL = YesPlease
        PAGER_ENV = LESS=FRX LV=-c MORE=FRX
+       FREAD_READS_DIRECTORIES = UnfortunatelyYes
 endif
 ifeq ($(uname_S),OpenBSD)
        NO_STRCASESTR = YesPlease
 
        test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'proper error on directory "files"' '
+       echo "Error (-1) reading configuration file a-directory." >expect &&
+       mkdir a-directory &&
+       test_expect_code 2 test-config configset_get_value foo.bar a-directory 2>output &&
+       grep "^Error" output >actual &&
+       test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success POSIXPERM,SANITY 'proper error on non-accessible files' '
        chmod -r .git/config &&
        test_when_finished "chmod +r .git/config" &&