diff --git a/lib/puppet/parameter/path.rb b/lib/puppet/parameter/path.rb
index 26e4933c7..11d0969db 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/parameter/path.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/parameter/path.rb
@@ -1,38 +1,34 @@
 require 'puppet/parameter'
 
 class Puppet::Parameter::Path < Puppet::Parameter
   def self.accept_arrays(bool = true)
     @accept_arrays = !!bool
   end
   def self.arrays?
     @accept_arrays
   end
 
   def validate_path(paths)
     if paths.is_a?(Array) and ! self.class.arrays? then
       fail "#{name} only accepts a single path, not an array of paths"
     end
 
-    # We *always* support Unix path separators, as Win32 does now too.
-    absolute = "[/#{::Regexp.quote(::File::SEPARATOR)}]"
-    win32    = Puppet.features.microsoft_windows?
-
     fail("#{name} must be a fully qualified path") unless Array(paths).all? {|path| absolute_path?(path)}
 
     paths
   end
 
   # This will be overridden if someone uses the validate option, which is why
   # it just delegates to the other, useful, method.
   def unsafe_validate(paths)
     validate_path(paths)
   end
 
   # Likewise, this might be overridden, but by default...
   def unsafe_munge(paths)
     if paths.is_a?(Array) and ! self.class.arrays? then
       fail "#{name} only accepts a single path, not an array of paths"
     end
     paths
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/puppet/util.rb b/lib/puppet/util.rb
index 39b596434..82e3b27bb 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/util.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/util.rb
@@ -1,522 +1,500 @@
 # A module to collect utility functions.
 
 require 'English'
 require 'puppet/util/monkey_patches'
 require 'sync'
 require 'tempfile'
 require 'puppet/external/lock'
 require 'monitor'
 require 'puppet/util/execution_stub'
 require 'uri'
 
 module Puppet
   # A command failed to execute.
   require 'puppet/error'
   class ExecutionFailure < Puppet::Error
   end
 module Util
   require 'benchmark'
 
   # These are all for backward compatibility -- these are methods that used
   # to be in Puppet::Util but have been moved into external modules.
   require 'puppet/util/posix'
   extend Puppet::Util::POSIX
 
   @@sync_objects = {}.extend MonitorMixin
 
   def self.activerecord_version
     if (defined?(::ActiveRecord) and defined?(::ActiveRecord::VERSION) and defined?(::ActiveRecord::VERSION::MAJOR) and defined?(::ActiveRecord::VERSION::MINOR))
       ([::ActiveRecord::VERSION::MAJOR, ::ActiveRecord::VERSION::MINOR].join('.').to_f)
     else
       0
     end
   end
 
   def self.synchronize_on(x,type)
     sync_object,users = 0,1
     begin
       @@sync_objects.synchronize {
         (@@sync_objects[x] ||= [Sync.new,0])[users] += 1
       }
       @@sync_objects[x][sync_object].synchronize(type) { yield }
     ensure
       @@sync_objects.synchronize {
         @@sync_objects.delete(x) unless (@@sync_objects[x][users] -= 1) > 0
       }
     end
   end
 
   # Change the process to a different user
   def self.chuser
     if group = Puppet[:group]
       begin
         Puppet::Util::SUIDManager.change_group(group, true)
       rescue => detail
         Puppet.warning "could not change to group #{group.inspect}: #{detail}"
         $stderr.puts "could not change to group #{group.inspect}"
 
         # Don't exit on failed group changes, since it's
         # not fatal
         #exit(74)
       end
     end
 
     if user = Puppet[:user]
       begin
         Puppet::Util::SUIDManager.change_user(user, true)
       rescue => detail
         $stderr.puts "Could not change to user #{user}: #{detail}"
         exit(74)
       end
     end
   end
 
   # Create instance methods for each of the log levels.  This allows
   # the messages to be a little richer.  Most classes will be calling this
   # method.
   def self.logmethods(klass, useself = true)
     Puppet::Util::Log.eachlevel { |level|
       klass.send(:define_method, level, proc { |args|
         args = args.join(" ") if args.is_a?(Array)
         if useself
 
           Puppet::Util::Log.create(
             :level => level,
             :source => self,
             :message => args
           )
         else
 
           Puppet::Util::Log.create(
             :level => level,
             :message => args
           )
         end
       })
     }
   end
 
   # Proxy a bunch of methods to another object.
   def self.classproxy(klass, objmethod, *methods)
     classobj = class << klass; self; end
     methods.each do |method|
       classobj.send(:define_method, method) do |*args|
         obj = self.send(objmethod)
 
         obj.send(method, *args)
       end
     end
   end
 
   # Proxy a bunch of methods to another object.
   def self.proxy(klass, objmethod, *methods)
     methods.each do |method|
       klass.send(:define_method, method) do |*args|
         obj = self.send(objmethod)
 
         obj.send(method, *args)
       end
     end
   end
 
-  # XXX this should all be done using puppet objects, not using
-  # normal mkdir
-  def self.recmkdir(dir,mode = 0755)
-    if FileTest.exist?(dir)
-      return false
-    else
-      tmp = dir.sub(/^\//,'')
-      path = [File::SEPARATOR]
-      tmp.split(File::SEPARATOR).each { |dir|
-        path.push dir
-        if ! FileTest.exist?(File.join(path))
-          Dir.mkdir(File.join(path), mode)
-        elsif FileTest.directory?(File.join(path))
-          next
-        else FileTest.exist?(File.join(path))
-          raise "Cannot create #{dir}: basedir #{File.join(path)} is a file"
-        end
-      }
-      return true
-    end
-  end
-
   # Execute a given chunk of code with a new umask.
   def self.withumask(mask)
     cur = File.umask(mask)
 
     begin
       yield
     ensure
       File.umask(cur)
     end
   end
 
   def benchmark(*args)
     msg = args.pop
     level = args.pop
     object = nil
 
     if args.empty?
       if respond_to?(level)
         object = self
       else
         object = Puppet
       end
     else
       object = args.pop
     end
 
     raise Puppet::DevError, "Failed to provide level to :benchmark" unless level
 
     unless level == :none or object.respond_to? level
       raise Puppet::DevError, "Benchmarked object does not respond to #{level}"
     end
 
     # Only benchmark if our log level is high enough
     if level != :none and Puppet::Util::Log.sendlevel?(level)
       result = nil
       seconds = Benchmark.realtime {
         yield
       }
       object.send(level, msg + (" in %0.2f seconds" % seconds))
       return seconds
     else
       yield
     end
   end
 
   def which(bin)
     if absolute_path?(bin)
       return bin if FileTest.file? bin and FileTest.executable? bin
     else
       ENV['PATH'].split(File::PATH_SEPARATOR).each do |dir|
         dest = File.expand_path(File.join(dir, bin))
         if Puppet.features.microsoft_windows? && File.extname(dest).empty?
           exts = ENV['PATHEXT']
           exts = exts ? exts.split(File::PATH_SEPARATOR) : %w[.COM .EXE .BAT .CMD]
           exts.each do |ext|
             destext = File.expand_path(dest + ext)
             return destext if FileTest.file? destext and FileTest.executable? destext
           end
         end
         return dest if FileTest.file? dest and FileTest.executable? dest
       end
     end
     nil
   end
   module_function :which
 
   # Determine in a platform-specific way whether a path is absolute. This
   # defaults to the local platform if none is specified.
   def absolute_path?(path, platform=nil)
     # Escape once for the string literal, and once for the regex.
     slash = '[\\\\/]'
     name = '[^\\\\/]+'
     regexes = {
       :windows => %r!^(([A-Z]:#{slash})|(#{slash}#{slash}#{name}#{slash}#{name})|(#{slash}#{slash}\?#{slash}#{name}))!i,
       :posix   => %r!^/!,
     }
     require 'puppet'
     platform ||= Puppet.features.microsoft_windows? ? :windows : :posix
 
     !! (path =~ regexes[platform])
   end
   module_function :absolute_path?
 
   # Convert a path to a file URI
   def path_to_uri(path)
     return unless path
 
     params = { :scheme => 'file' }
 
     if Puppet.features.microsoft_windows?
       path = path.gsub(/\\/, '/')
 
       if unc = /^\/\/([^\/]+)(\/[^\/]+)/.match(path)
         params[:host] = unc[1]
         path = unc[2]
       elsif path =~ /^[a-z]:\//i
         path = '/' + path
       end
     end
 
     params[:path] = URI.escape(path)
 
     begin
       URI::Generic.build(params)
     rescue => detail
       raise Puppet::Error, "Failed to convert '#{path}' to URI: #{detail}"
     end
   end
   module_function :path_to_uri
 
   # Get the path component of a URI
   def uri_to_path(uri)
     return unless uri.is_a?(URI)
 
     path = URI.unescape(uri.path)
 
     if Puppet.features.microsoft_windows? and uri.scheme == 'file'
       if uri.host
         path = "//#{uri.host}" + path # UNC
       else
         path.sub!(/^\//, '')
       end
     end
 
     path
   end
   module_function :uri_to_path
 
   # Execute the provided command in a pipe, yielding the pipe object.
   def execpipe(command, failonfail = true)
     if respond_to? :debug
       debug "Executing '#{command}'"
     else
       Puppet.debug "Executing '#{command}'"
     end
 
     command_str = command.respond_to?(:join) ? command.join('') : command
     output = open("| #{command_str} 2>&1") do |pipe|
       yield pipe
     end
 
     if failonfail
       unless $CHILD_STATUS == 0
         raise ExecutionFailure, output
       end
     end
 
     output
   end
 
   def execfail(command, exception)
       output = execute(command)
       return output
   rescue ExecutionFailure
       raise exception, output
   end
 
   def execute_posix(command, arguments, stdin, stdout, stderr)
     child_pid = Kernel.fork do
       # We can't just call Array(command), and rely on it returning
       # things like ['foo'], when passed ['foo'], because
       # Array(command) will call command.to_a internally, which when
       # given a string can end up doing Very Bad Things(TM), such as
       # turning "/tmp/foo;\r\n /bin/echo" into ["/tmp/foo;\r\n", " /bin/echo"]
       command = [command].flatten
       Process.setsid
       begin
         $stdin.reopen(stdin)
         $stdout.reopen(stdout)
         $stderr.reopen(stderr)
 
         3.upto(256){|fd| IO::new(fd).close rescue nil}
 
         Puppet::Util::SUIDManager.change_group(arguments[:gid], true) if arguments[:gid]
         Puppet::Util::SUIDManager.change_user(arguments[:uid], true)  if arguments[:uid]
 
         ENV['LANG'] = ENV['LC_ALL'] = ENV['LC_MESSAGES'] = ENV['LANGUAGE'] = 'C'
         Kernel.exec(*command)
       rescue => detail
         puts detail.to_s
         exit!(1)
       end
     end
     child_pid
   end
   module_function :execute_posix
 
   def execute_windows(command, arguments, stdin, stdout, stderr)
     command = command.map do |part|
       part.include?(' ') ? %Q["#{part.gsub(/"/, '\"')}"] : part
     end.join(" ") if command.is_a?(Array)
 
     process_info = Process.create( :command_line => command, :startup_info => {:stdin => stdin, :stdout => stdout, :stderr => stderr} )
     process_info.process_id
   end
   module_function :execute_windows
 
   # Execute the desired command, and return the status and output.
   # def execute(command, failonfail = true, uid = nil, gid = nil)
   # :combine sets whether or not to combine stdout/stderr in the output
   # :stdinfile sets a file that can be used for stdin. Passing a string
   # for stdin is not currently supported.
   def execute(command, arguments = {:failonfail => true, :combine => true})
     if command.is_a?(Array)
       command = command.flatten.map(&:to_s)
       str = command.join(" ")
     elsif command.is_a?(String)
       str = command
     end
 
     if respond_to? :debug
       debug "Executing '#{str}'"
     else
       Puppet.debug "Executing '#{str}'"
     end
 
     null_file = Puppet.features.microsoft_windows? ? 'NUL' : '/dev/null'
 
     stdin = File.open(arguments[:stdinfile] || null_file, 'r')
     stdout = arguments[:squelch] ? File.open(null_file, 'w') : Tempfile.new('puppet')
     stderr = arguments[:combine] ? stdout : File.open(null_file, 'w')
 
     exec_args = [command, arguments, stdin, stdout, stderr]
 
     if execution_stub = Puppet::Util::ExecutionStub.current_value
       return execution_stub.call(*exec_args)
     elsif Puppet.features.posix?
       child_pid = execute_posix(*exec_args)
       exit_status = Process.waitpid2(child_pid).last.exitstatus
     elsif Puppet.features.microsoft_windows?
       child_pid = execute_windows(*exec_args)
       exit_status = Process.waitpid2(child_pid).last
       # $CHILD_STATUS is not set when calling win32/process Process.create
       # and since it's read-only, we can't set it. But we can execute a
       # a shell that simply returns the desired exit status, which has the
       # desired effect.
       %x{#{ENV['COMSPEC']} /c exit #{exit_status}}
     end
 
     [stdin, stdout, stderr].each {|io| io.close rescue nil}
 
     # read output in if required
     unless arguments[:squelch]
       output = wait_for_output(stdout)
       Puppet.warning "Could not get output" unless output
     end
 
     if arguments[:failonfail] and exit_status != 0
       raise ExecutionFailure, "Execution of '#{str}' returned #{exit_status}: #{output}"
     end
 
     output
   end
 
   module_function :execute
 
   def wait_for_output(stdout)
     # Make sure the file's actually been written.  This is basically a race
     # condition, and is probably a horrible way to handle it, but, well, oh
     # well.
     2.times do |try|
       if File.exists?(stdout.path)
         output = stdout.open.read
 
         stdout.close(true)
 
         return output
       else
         time_to_sleep = try / 2.0
         Puppet.warning "Waiting for output; will sleep #{time_to_sleep} seconds"
         sleep(time_to_sleep)
       end
     end
     nil
   end
   module_function :wait_for_output
 
   # Create an exclusive lock.
   def threadlock(resource, type = Sync::EX)
     Puppet::Util.synchronize_on(resource,type) { yield }
   end
 
   # Because some modules provide their own version of this method.
   alias util_execute execute
 
   module_function :benchmark
 
   def memory
     unless defined?(@pmap)
       @pmap = which('pmap')
     end
     if @pmap
       %x{#{@pmap} #{Process.pid}| grep total}.chomp.sub(/^\s*total\s+/, '').sub(/K$/, '').to_i
     else
       0
     end
   end
 
   def symbolize(value)
     if value.respond_to? :intern
       value.intern
     else
       value
     end
   end
 
   def symbolizehash(hash)
     newhash = {}
     hash.each do |name, val|
       if name.is_a? String
         newhash[name.intern] = val
       else
         newhash[name] = val
       end
     end
   end
 
   def symbolizehash!(hash)
     hash.each do |name, val|
       if name.is_a? String
         hash[name.intern] = val
         hash.delete(name)
       end
     end
 
     hash
   end
   module_function :symbolize, :symbolizehash, :symbolizehash!
 
   # Just benchmark, with no logging.
   def thinmark
     seconds = Benchmark.realtime {
       yield
     }
 
     seconds
   end
 
   module_function :memory, :thinmark
 
   def secure_open(file,must_be_w,&block)
     raise Puppet::DevError,"secure_open only works with mode 'w'" unless must_be_w == 'w'
     raise Puppet::DevError,"secure_open only requires a block"    unless block_given?
     Puppet.warning "#{file} was a symlink to #{File.readlink(file)}" if File.symlink?(file)
     if File.exists?(file) or File.symlink?(file)
       wait = File.symlink?(file) ? 5.0 : 0.1
       File.delete(file)
       sleep wait # give it a chance to reappear, just in case someone is actively trying something.
     end
     begin
       File.open(file,File::CREAT|File::EXCL|File::TRUNC|File::WRONLY,&block)
     rescue Errno::EEXIST
       desc = File.symlink?(file) ? "symlink to #{File.readlink(file)}" : File.stat(file).ftype
       puts "Warning: #{file} was apparently created by another process (as"
       puts "a #{desc}) as soon as it was deleted by this process.  Someone may be trying"
       puts "to do something objectionable (such as tricking you into overwriting system"
       puts "files if you are running as root)."
       raise
     end
   end
   module_function :secure_open
 
   # Because IO#binread is only available in 1.9
   def binread(file)
     File.open(file, 'rb') { |f| f.read }
   end
   module_function :binread
 end
 end
 
 require 'puppet/util/errors'
 require 'puppet/util/methodhelper'
 require 'puppet/util/metaid'
 require 'puppet/util/classgen'
 require 'puppet/util/docs'
 require 'puppet/util/execution'
 require 'puppet/util/logging'
 require 'puppet/util/package'
 require 'puppet/util/warnings'