diff --git a/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc b/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
index 26f80f9719..63df6ee3c7 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
@@ -361,6 +361,65 @@ get_absolute_path (const std::string & p)
 	return Glib::build_filename (Glib::get_current_dir(), p);
 }
 
+string
+canonical_path (const std::string& path)
+{
+#ifdef PLATFORM_WINDOWS
+	wchar_t resolved_wpath[_MAX_PATH];
+
+	// sizeof(wchar_t) is 2 bytes using gcc/mingw and VC++ but 4 bytes using gcc/linux
+	assert (sizeof(wchar_t) == 2);
+
+	wchar_t* wfilepath = (wchar_t*)g_utf8_to_utf16 (path.c_str(), -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+
+	if (wfilepath == NULL) {
+		DEBUG_TRACE (
+		    DEBUG::FileUtils,
+		    string_compose ("PBD::canonical_path: Unable to convert path from utf8 to utf16 : %1\n",
+		                    path));
+		return path;
+	}
+
+	if (_wfullpath (resolved_wpath, wfilepath, _MAX_PATH) == NULL) {
+		DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::FileUtils,
+		             string_compose ("PBD::canonical_path: Unable to resolve %1\n", wfilepath));
+		return path;
+	}
+
+	gchar* resolved_utf8_path =
+	    g_utf16_to_utf8 (reinterpret_cast<const gunichar2*>(resolved_wpath), -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+
+	if (resolved_utf8_path == NULL) {
+		DEBUG_TRACE (
+		    DEBUG::FileUtils,
+		    string_compose ("PBD::canonical_path: Unable to convert path from utf16 to utf8 : %1\n",
+		                    resolved_wpath));
+		return path;
+	}
+
+	const string retval(resolved_utf8_path);
+
+	g_free (wfilepath);
+	g_free (resolved_utf8_path);
+
+	return retval;
+
+#else
+	char buf[PATH_MAX+1];
+
+	if (realpath (path.c_str(), buf) == NULL) {
+		DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::FileUtils,
+		             string_compose ("PBD::canonical_path: Unable to resolve %1: %2\n", path,
+		                             g_strerror (errno)));
+		return path;
+	}
+	DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::FileUtils,
+	             string_compose ("PBD::canonical_path %1 resolved to: %2\n", path, string (buf)));
+
+	return string (buf);
+#endif
+}
+
 std::string
 get_suffix (const std::string & p)
 {
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pathexpand.cc b/libs/pbd/pathexpand.cc
index a92005a086..63ae348df1 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pathexpand.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/pathexpand.cc
@@ -37,72 +37,6 @@
 using std::string;
 using std::vector;
 
-#ifdef COMPILER_MINGW
-
-#include <stdio.h>
-#include <stdlib.h>
-#include <glibmm.h>
-
-/****************************************************************
- * Emulate POSIX realpath() using Win32 _fullpath() since realpath()
- * is not available.
- *
- * Returns:
- *    On Success: A pointer to the resolved (absolute) path
- *    On Failure: 0 (NULL)
- */
-
-static char*
-realpath (const char *original_path, char resolved_path[_MAX_PATH+1])
-{
-	char *rpath = 0;
-	bool bIsSymLink = false; // We'll probably need to test the incoming path
-	                         // to find out if it points to a Windows shortcut
-	                         // (or a hard link) and set this appropriately.
-
-	if (bIsSymLink) {
-		// At the moment I'm not sure if Windows '_fullpath()' is directly
-		// equivalent to POSIX 'realpath()' - in as much as the latter will
-		// resolve the supplied path if it happens to point to a symbolic
-		// link ('_fullpath()' probably DOESN'T do this but I'm not really
-		// sure if Ardour needs such functionality anyway). Therefore we'll
-		// possibly need to add that functionality here at a later date.
-	} else {
-		char temp[(_MAX_PATH+1)*6]; // Allow for maximum length of a path in wchar characters
-
-		// POSIX 'realpath()' requires that the buffer size is at
-		// least PATH_MAX+1, so assume that the user knew this !!
-
-		rpath = _fullpath (temp, Glib::locale_from_utf8 (original_path).c_str(), _MAX_PATH);
-
-		if (0 != rpath) {
-			snprintf (resolved_path, _MAX_PATH+1, "%s", Glib::locale_to_utf8 (temp).c_str());
-		}
-
-	}
-
-	return (rpath);
-}
-
-#endif  // COMPILER_MINGW
-
-string
-PBD::canonical_path (const std::string& path)
-{
-	char buf[PATH_MAX+1];
-
-	if (realpath (path.c_str(), buf) == NULL) {
-		DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::FileUtils,
-				string_compose("PBD::canonical_path: Unable to resolve %1: %2\n", path, g_strerror(errno)));
-		return path;
-	}
-
-	DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::FileUtils,
-			string_compose("PBD::canonical_path %1 resolved to: %2\n", path, string(buf)));
-
-	return string (buf);
-}
-
 string
 PBD::path_expand (string path)
 {
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
index e9baaa3e81..d443288159 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
@@ -195,6 +195,12 @@ LIBPBD_API bool touch_file (const std::string& path);
  */
 LIBPBD_API std::string get_absolute_path (const std::string &);
 
+/**
+ * The equivalent of ::realpath on POSIX systems, on Windows hard
+ * links/junctions etc are not resolved.
+ */
+LIBPBD_API std::string canonical_path (const std::string& path);
+
 /**
  * Take a path/filename and return the suffix (characters beyond the last '.'
  * @return A string containing the suffix, which will be empty