diff --git a/src/app/config/config.c b/src/app/config/config.c
index 2f40dd2bb9..cda2440963 100644
--- a/src/app/config/config.c
+++ b/src/app/config/config.c
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ static const config_var_t option_vars_[] = {
   V(UnixSocksGroupWritable,    BOOL,     "0"),
   V(CookieAuthentication,        BOOL,     "0"),
   V(CookieAuthFileGroupReadable, BOOL,     "0"),
-  V(CookieAuthFile,              STRING,   NULL),
+  V(CookieAuthFile,              FILENAME, NULL),
   V(CountPrivateBandwidth,       BOOL,     "0"),
   VAR("DataDirectory",           FILENAME, DataDirectory_option, NULL),
   V(DataDirectoryGroupReadable,  BOOL,     "0"),
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ static const config_var_t option_vars_[] = {
   V(ExtendAllowPrivateAddresses, BOOL,     "0"),
   V(ExitRelay,                   AUTOBOOL, "auto"),
   VPORT(ExtORPort),
-  V(ExtORPortCookieAuthFile,     STRING,   NULL),
+  V(ExtORPortCookieAuthFile,     FILENAME,   NULL),
   V(ExtORPortCookieAuthFileGroupReadable, BOOL, "0"),
   V(ExtraInfoStatistics,         BOOL,     "1"),
   V(ExtendByEd25519ID,           AUTOBOOL, "auto"),
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ static const config_var_t option_vars_[] = {
   V(PathsNeededToBuildCircuits,  DOUBLE,   "-1"),
   V(PerConnBWBurst,              MEMUNIT,  "0"),
   V(PerConnBWRate,               MEMUNIT,  "0"),
-  V(PidFile,                     STRING,   NULL),
+  V(PidFile,                     FILENAME,   NULL),
   V(TestingTorNetwork,           BOOL,     "0"),
   V(TestingMinExitFlagThreshold, MEMUNIT,  "0"),
   V(TestingMinFastFlagThreshold, MEMUNIT,  "0"),
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ static const config_var_t option_vars_[] = {
   V(ServerDNSAllowNonRFC953Hostnames, BOOL,"0"),
   V(ServerDNSDetectHijacking,    BOOL,     "1"),
   V(ServerDNSRandomizeCase,      BOOL,     "1"),
-  V(ServerDNSResolvConfFile,     STRING,   NULL),
+  V(ServerDNSResolvConfFile,     FILENAME,   NULL),
   V(ServerDNSSearchDomains,      BOOL,     "0"),
   V(ServerDNSTestAddresses,      CSV,
       "www.google.com,www.mit.edu,www.yahoo.com,www.slashdot.org"),