In [269]: os.path.dirname('foo')
Out[269]: ''

In [270]: os.path.dirname('/huj/foo')
Out[270]: '/huj'

In [271]: os.path.abspath('foo')
Out[271]: '/home/mishok/foo'

In [272]: os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath('foo'))
Out[272]: '/home/mishok'