diff -r 98aec1d9e2a0 Lib/shutil.py
--- a/Lib/shutil.py	Mon Jul 21 18:37:36 2014 -0400
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py	Mon Jul 21 23:09:17 2014 -0400
@@ -740,9 +740,9 @@
     if root_dir is not None:
         if logger is not None:
             logger.debug("changing into '%s'", root_dir)
-        base_name = os.path.abspath(base_name)
         if not dry_run:
             os.chdir(root_dir)
+        base_name = os.path.abspath(base_name)
 
     if base_dir is None:
         base_dir = os.curdir