code: def normalize_path(path, basedir=None):
      
      out = os.path.expanduser(path)
      if not os.path.isabs(path) and basedir:
          out = os.path.join(basedir, out)
  
      return out
docs: Just a utility function that will both expand user paths if they are there:
      >>> normalize_path("~/ssh")
      '/home/kevin/ssh'
  
      but won't if they are not
      >>> normalize_path("ssh")
      'ssh'
  
      and you can pass a basepath to combine
      >>> normalize_path("ssh","foo")
      '/foo/ssh'
  
      and wont' mess up absolute paths:
      >>> normalize_path("/home/kevin/ssh")
      '/home/kevin/ssh'