code: def _NormalizePath(path):
    
    # TODO(emrekultursay): Calling os.path.normpath "may change the meaning of a
    # path that contains symbolic links" (e.g., "A/foo/../B" != "A/B" if foo is a
    # symlink). This might cause trouble when matching against loaded module
    # paths. We should try to avoid using it.
    # Example:
    #  > import symlink.a
    #  > symlink.a.__file__
    #  symlink/a.py
    #  > import target.a
    #  > starget.a.__file__
    #  target/a.py
    # Python interpreter treats these as two separate modules. So, we also need to
    # handle them the same way.
    return os.path.normpath(path.strip().lstrip(os.sep))
docs: Removes surrounding whitespace, leading separator and normalize.