diff --git a/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils b/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
index c842d0066..c963ad799 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
+++ b/include/osgDB/FileNameUtils
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ extern OSGDB_EXPORT bool containsServerAddress(const std::string& filename);
 extern OSGDB_EXPORT std::string getServerAddress(const std::string& filename);
 extern OSGDB_EXPORT std::string getServerFileName(const std::string& filename);
 
+/** Concatenates two paths */
+extern OSGDB_EXPORT std::string concatPaths(const std::string& left, const std::string& right);
+
+/** Removes .. and . dirs in a path */
+extern OSGDB_EXPORT std::string getRealPath(const std::string& path);
+
+
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp b/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
index 581f1c033..00dfec5ca 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/FileNameUtils.cpp
@@ -202,17 +202,43 @@ std::string osgDB::getServerFileName(const std::string& filename)
     return filename;
 }
 
+std::string osgDB::concatPaths(const std::string& left, const std::string& right)
+{
+#ifdef WIN32
+    const char delimiterNative  = '\\';
+    const char delimiterForeign = '/';
+#else
+    const char delimiterNative  = '/';
+    const char delimiterForeign = '\\';
+#endif
 
-// // here a little test I wrote to make sure a couple of the above methods are
-// // working fine.
-// void test()
-// {
-//     std::string test("/here/we/are.exe");
-//     std::string test2("\\there\\you\\go.dll");
-//     std::cout << "getFilePath("<<test<<") "<<osgDB::getFilePath(test)<<std::endl;
-//     std::cout << "getFilePath("<<test2<<") "<<osgDB::getFilePath(test2)<<std::endl;
-//     std::cout << "getSimpleFileName("<<test<<") "<<osgDB::getSimpleFileName(test)<<std::endl;
-//     std::cout << "getSimpleFileName("<<test2<<") "<<osgDB::getSimpleFileName(test2)<<std::endl;
-//     std::cout << "getStrippedName("<<test<<") "<<osgDB::getStrippedName(test)<<std::endl;
-//     std::cout << "getStrippedName("<<test2<<") "<<osgDB::getStrippedName(test2)<<std::endl;
-// }
+    char lastChar = left[left.size() - 1];
+
+    if(lastChar == delimiterNative)
+    {
+        return left + right;
+    }
+    else if(lastChar == delimiterForeign)
+    {
+        return left.substr(0, left.size() - 1) + delimiterNative + right;
+    }
+    else // lastChar != a delimiter
+    {
+        return left + delimiterNative + right;
+    }
+}
+
+std::string osgDB::getRealPath(const std::string& path)
+{
+#ifdef WIN32
+    TCHAR retbuf[MAX_PATH + sizeof(TCHAR)];
+    GetFullPathName(path.c_str(), sizeof(retbuf), retbuf, 0);
+    return std::string(retbuf);
+#else
+    char resolved_path[PATH_MAX];
+    char* result = realpath(path.c_str(), resolved_path);
+    
+    if (result) return std::string(resolved_path);
+    else return path;
+#endif 
+}
diff --git a/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp b/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
index 81830b786..b78f35b24 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/FileUtils.cpp
@@ -203,7 +203,10 @@ std::string osgDB::findFileInPath(const std::string& filename, const FilePathLis
         ++itr)
     {
         osg::notify(osg::DEBUG_INFO) << "itr='" <<*itr<< "'\n";
-        std::string path = itr->empty() ? filename : *itr + '/'+ filename;
+        std::string path = itr->empty() ? filename : concatPaths(*itr, filename);
+        
+        path = getRealPath(path);
+
         osg::notify(osg::DEBUG_INFO) << "FindFileInPath() : trying " << path << " ...\n";
         if(fileExists(path)) 
         {