diff -pru Python-2.7/Modules/getpath.c Python-2.7/Modules/getpath.c
--- Python-2.7/Modules/getpath.c
+++ Python-2.7/Modules/getpath.c
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ joinpath(char *buffer, char *stuff)
     if (n > MAXPATHLEN)
         Py_FatalError("buffer overflow in getpath.c's joinpath()");
     k = strlen(stuff);
-    if (n + k > MAXPATHLEN)
+    if (k > MAXPATHLEN - n)
         k = MAXPATHLEN - n;
     strncpy(buffer+n, stuff, k);
     buffer[n+k] = '\0';
@@ -229,10 +229,9 @@ joinpath(char *buffer, char *stuff)
 static void
 copy_absolute(char *path, char *p)
 {
-    if (p[0] == SEP)
+    if (p[0] == SEP || getcwd(path, MAXPATHLEN) == NULL)
         strcpy(path, p);
     else {
-        getcwd(path, MAXPATHLEN);
         if (p[0] == '.' && p[1] == SEP)
             p += 2;
         joinpath(path, p);
diff -pru Python-3.2a3/Modules/getpath.c Python-3.2a3/Modules/getpath.c
--- Python-3.2a3/Modules/getpath.c
+++ Python-3.2a3/Modules/getpath.c
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ joinpath(wchar_t *buffer, wchar_t *stuff
     if (n > MAXPATHLEN)
         Py_FatalError("buffer overflow in getpath.c's joinpath()");
     k = wcslen(stuff);
-    if (n + k > MAXPATHLEN)
+    if (k > MAXPATHLEN - n)
         k = MAXPATHLEN - n;
     wcsncpy(buffer+n, stuff, k);
     buffer[n+k] = '\0';
@@ -351,18 +351,18 @@ search_for_exec_prefix(wchar_t *argv0_pa
         else {
             char buf[MAXPATHLEN+1];
             PyObject *decoded;
-            wchar_t rel_builddir_path[MAXPATHLEN+1];
-            size_t n;
             n = fread(buf, 1, MAXPATHLEN, f);
             buf[n] = '\0';
             fclose(f);
             decoded = PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(buf, n, "surrogateescape");
             if (decoded != NULL) {
-                n = PyUnicode_AsWideChar((PyUnicodeObject*)decoded,
+                wchar_t rel_builddir_path[MAXPATHLEN+1];
+                Py_ssize_t k;
+                k = PyUnicode_AsWideChar((PyUnicodeObject*)decoded,
                                          rel_builddir_path, MAXPATHLEN);
                 Py_DECREF(decoded);
-                if (n >= 0) {
-                    rel_builddir_path[n] = L'\0';
+                if (k >= 0) {
+                    rel_builddir_path[k] = L'\0';
                     wcscpy(exec_prefix, argv0_path);
                     joinpath(exec_prefix, rel_builddir_path);
                     return -1;