diff --git a/gst-env.py b/gst-env.py
index 8811ae878b..a94432b461 100755
--- a/gst-env.py
+++ b/gst-env.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def get_target_install_filename(target, filename):
 def get_pkgconfig_variable_from_pcfile(pcfile, varname):
     variables = {}
     substre = re.compile('\$\{[^${}]+\}')
-    with open(pcfile, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    with pcfile.open('r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         for line in f:
             if '=' not in line:
                 continue