path error

[godavemon]

I'm on an intel macbook using OS X 10.4 and for some reason my path is
being interpreted incorrectly.  See the example:

dave at jared3-jared$ pwd
/Users/dave/til/jared     <----- dirname = jared
dave at jared3-jared$ python
...
>>> import os
>>> os.path.abspath('')
'/Users/dave/til/Jared'   <----- dirname = Jared


python is capitalizing my jared directory.  It has worked for a long
time but suddenly doesn't.  I'm working on the project over SVN, could
it be some kind  of incompatibility with someone who submitted using
windows or something?  Any solutions for this?