diff --git a/cabal-dev.cabal b/cabal-dev.cabal
--- a/cabal-dev.cabal
+++ b/cabal-dev.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                cabal-dev
-Version:             0.7.2
+Version:             0.7.2.1
 Synopsis:            Manage sandboxed Haskell build environments
 
 Description:         cabal-dev is a tool for managing development builds of
@@ -141,3 +141,4 @@
     Distribution.Dev.InstallDependencies,
     Distribution.Dev.RewriteCabalConfig,
     Distribution.Dev.InitPkgDb
+    Distribution.Dev.Utilities
diff --git a/src/Distribution/Dev/Utilities.hs b/src/Distribution/Dev/Utilities.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Distribution/Dev/Utilities.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+module Distribution.Dev.Utilities
+    ( makeAbsolute
+    , makeAbsoluteToCurrentDirectory
+    , ensureAbsolute
+    ) where
+
+import System.Directory ( getCurrentDirectory )
+import System.FilePath ( (</>), isAbsolute, isRelative )
+
+-- | Given a path, returns that path unmodified if it is absolute,
+-- otherwise it is made absolute relative to the current directory.
+ensureAbsolute :: FilePath -> IO FilePath
+ensureAbsolute path | isAbsolute path = return path
+                    | otherwise       = makeAbsoluteToCurrentDirectory path
+
+-- | Makes a relative path into an absolute path, rooted in the
+-- current directory.  Throws an error if path is not relative.
+makeAbsoluteToCurrentDirectory :: FilePath -> IO FilePath
+makeAbsoluteToCurrentDirectory path = do cwd <- getCurrentDirectory
+                                         case makeAbsolute cwd path of
+                                           Left  m -> error m
+                                           Right p -> return p
+
+-- | Creates an absolute file path from an absolute path and a
+-- relative path.  Does not normalize the result. makeAbsolute returns
+-- Left msg if root is not absolute, or rel is not relative
+makeAbsolute :: FilePath -> FilePath -> Either String FilePath
+makeAbsolute root rel | not (isAbsolute root) = Left (root ++ " was not an absolute path.")
+                      | not (isRelative rel)  = Left (rel ++ " was not a relative path.")
+                      | otherwise             = Right (root </> rel)
+