diff --git a/archivebox/core/settings.py b/archivebox/core/settings.py
index 44065de4..fb1ee831 100644
--- a/archivebox/core/settings.py
+++ b/archivebox/core/settings.py
@@ -68,10 +68,11 @@ TEMPLATES = [
 
 WSGI_APPLICATION = 'core.wsgi.application'
 
+DATABASE_FILE = Path(OUTPUT_DIR) / SQL_INDEX_FILENAME
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
-        'NAME': str(Path(OUTPUT_DIR) / SQL_INDEX_FILENAME),
+        'NAME': str(DATABASE_FILE),
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/archivebox/system.py b/archivebox/system.py
index e07c69c7..2279a2ed 100644
--- a/archivebox/system.py
+++ b/archivebox/system.py
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def chmod_file(path: str, cwd: str='.', permissions: str=OUTPUT_PERMISSIONS) ->
 
 
 @enforce_types
-def copy_and_overwrite(from_path: str, to_path: str):
+def copy_and_overwrite(from_path: Union[str, Path], to_path: Union[str, Path]):
     """copy a given file or directory to a given path, overwriting the destination"""
     if Path(from_path).is_dir():
         shutil.rmtree(to_path, ignore_errors=True)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def copy_and_overwrite(from_path: str, to_path: str):
 
 
 @enforce_types
-def get_dir_size(path: str, recursive: bool=True, pattern: Optional[str]=None) -> Tuple[int, int, int]:
+def get_dir_size(path: Union[str, Path], recursive: bool=True, pattern: Optional[str]=None) -> Tuple[int, int, int]:
     """get the total disk size of a given directory, optionally summing up 
        recursively and limiting to a given filter list
     """