diff --git a/msgfmt b/msgfmt
index 3ee5563..8579a0c 100755
--- a/msgfmt
+++ b/msgfmt
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ done
 refopar="${opar:+${opar%>} id="ref-\\1" class="ref">}"
 
 # format the commit message, stopping at the diff (if any)
-awk -vid="$id" -vurl_root="$url_root" -vcref_errlog="$cref_errlog" '
+awk -vid="$id" -vurl_root="${url_root%/}" -vcref_errlog="$cref_errlog" '
     # replace commit refs with generated URL (allows linking to prior commits
     # without hard-coding the configurable links that could change or be
     # relative to where the content is hosted); this will then be processed as a
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ awk -vid="$id" -vurl_root="$url_root" -vcref_errlog="$cref_errlog" '
         printf id"\n" >>cref_errlog
       }
 
-      gsub(/\[cref:.*?\]/, url_root result)
+      gsub(/\[cref:.*?\]/, (url_root "/" result))
     }
 
     # stop printing at diff