diff --git a/poky/meta/lib/oe/path.py b/poky/meta/lib/oe/path.py
index 0829724..c8d8ad0 100644
--- a/poky/meta/lib/oe/path.py
+++ b/poky/meta/lib/oe/path.py
@@ -320,3 +320,24 @@
 
     return files
 
+def canonicalize(paths, sep=','):
+    """Given a string with paths (separated by commas by default), expand
+    each path using os.path.realpath() and return the resulting paths as a
+    string (separated using the same separator a the original string).
+    """
+    # Ignore paths containing "$" as they are assumed to be unexpanded bitbake
+    # variables. Normally they would be ignored, e.g., when passing the paths
+    # through the shell they would expand to empty strings. However, when they
+    # are passed through os.path.realpath(), it will cause them to be prefixed
+    # with the absolute path to the current directory and thus not be empty
+    # anymore.
+    #
+    # Also maintain trailing slashes, as the paths may actually be used as
+    # prefixes in sting compares later on, where the slashes then are important.
+    canonical_paths = []
+    for path in (paths or '').split(sep):
+        if '$' not in path:
+            trailing_slash = path.endswith('/') and '/' or ''
+            canonical_paths.append(os.path.realpath(path) + trailing_slash)
+
+    return sep.join(canonical_paths)