diff --git a/include/wx/filename.h b/include/wx/filename.h
index 5722daf8ff..ef108760e2 100644
--- a/include/wx/filename.h
+++ b/include/wx/filename.h
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ public:
     bool MakeRelativeTo(const wxString& pathBase = wxEmptyString,
                         wxPathFormat format = wxPATH_NATIVE);
 
-        // make the path absolute
+        // make the path absolute and resolve any "." and ".." in it
         //
         // this may be done using another (than current) value of cwd
     bool MakeAbsolute(const wxString& cwd = wxEmptyString,
diff --git a/samples/menu/menu.cpp b/samples/menu/menu.cpp
index 3adf4db013..f325fbf07c 100644
--- a/samples/menu/menu.cpp
+++ b/samples/menu/menu.cpp
@@ -575,15 +575,15 @@ MyFrame::MyFrame()
     m_fileHistory->UseMenu(m_fileHistoryMenu);
 
     wxFileName fn( "menu.cpp" );
-    fn.Normalize();
+    fn.MakeAbsolute();
     m_fileHistory->AddFileToHistory( fn.GetFullPath() );
 
     fn = "Makefile.in";
-    fn.Normalize();
+    fn.MakeAbsolute();
     m_fileHistory->AddFileToHistory( fn.GetFullPath() );
 
     fn.Assign("minimal", "minimal", "cpp");
-    fn.Normalize();
+    fn.MakeAbsolute();
     m_fileHistory->AddFileToHistory( fn.GetFullPath() );
 
     fileMenu->AppendSubMenu(m_fileHistoryMenu, "Sample file history");
diff --git a/src/common/filename.cpp b/src/common/filename.cpp
index 5d96f045fd..8688e92a66 100644
--- a/src/common/filename.cpp
+++ b/src/common/filename.cpp
@@ -1765,14 +1765,14 @@ bool wxFileName::MakeRelativeTo(const wxString& pathBase, wxPathFormat format)
     // get cwd only once - small time saving
     wxString cwd = wxGetCwd();
 
-    // Normalize both paths to be absolute but avoid expanding environment
-    // variables in them, this could be unexpected.
-    const int normFlags = wxPATH_NORM_DOTS |
-                          wxPATH_NORM_TILDE |
-                          wxPATH_NORM_ABSOLUTE |
-                          wxPATH_NORM_LONG;
-    Normalize(normFlags, cwd, format);
-    fnBase.Normalize(normFlags, cwd, format);
+    // Bring both paths to canonical form.
+    MakeAbsolute(cwd, format);
+    fnBase.MakeAbsolute(cwd, format);
+
+    // Do this here for compatibility, as we used to do it before.
+    Normalize(wxPATH_NORM_LONG, cwd, format);
+    fnBase.Normalize(wxPATH_NORM_LONG, cwd, format);
+
 
     bool withCase = IsCaseSensitive(format);
 
@@ -2620,7 +2620,7 @@ static wxString EscapeFileNameCharsInURL(const char *in)
 wxString wxFileName::FileNameToURL(const wxFileName& filename)
 {
     wxFileName fn = filename;
-    fn.Normalize(wxPATH_NORM_DOTS | wxPATH_NORM_TILDE | wxPATH_NORM_ABSOLUTE);
+    fn.MakeAbsolute();
     wxString url = fn.GetFullPath(wxPATH_NATIVE);
 
 #ifndef __UNIX__
diff --git a/tests/filename/filenametest.cpp b/tests/filename/filenametest.cpp
index e8e4fe1145..73d927d59f 100644
--- a/tests/filename/filenametest.cpp
+++ b/tests/filename/filenametest.cpp
@@ -201,8 +201,8 @@ TEST_CASE("wxFileName::Comparison", "[filename]")
 {
     wxFileName fn1(wxT("/tmp/file1"));
     wxFileName fn2(wxT("/tmp/dir2/../file2"));
-    fn1.Normalize();
-    fn2.Normalize();
+    fn1.MakeAbsolute();
+    fn2.MakeAbsolute();
     CHECK(fn1.GetPath() == fn2.GetPath());
 }