diff --git a/util/util.go b/util/util.go
index 3c7facfd..9bbc04cf 100644
--- a/util/util.go
+++ b/util/util.go
@@ -398,6 +398,29 @@ func RemovePathPrefix(s string) (string, error) {
 	return "/" + strings.Join(x, "/"), nil
 }
 
+// RemovePathSuffix takes an absolute path and removes the last chunk. It
+// returns the remainder as an absolute path. This function is a bit of a hack,
+// and could probably be re-written to support any kind of path, and return a
+// relative path.
+func RemovePathSuffix(s string) (string, error) {
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(s, "/") {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("must be absolute")
+	}
+	// this is the PathSplit logic...
+	if s == "/" {
+		//return "", nil // TODO: return this instead?
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("input is /")
+	}
+	x := strings.Split(s, "/")
+
+	// get rid of the last two chunks, last is / and second to last is a dir
+	if strings.HasSuffix(s, "/") {
+		_, x = x[len(x)-1], x[:len(x)-1] // pop the last slash
+	}
+	_, x = x[len(x)-1], x[:len(x)-1] // pop the last chunk
+	return strings.Join(x, "/") + "/", nil
+}
+
 // TimeAfterOrBlock is aspecial version of time.After that blocks when given a
 // negative integer. When used in a case statement, the timer restarts on each
 // select call to it.
diff --git a/util/util_test.go b/util/util_test.go
index b80c5f9a..0eddb9a1 100644
--- a/util/util_test.go
+++ b/util/util_test.go
@@ -1015,6 +1015,46 @@ func TestRemovePathPrefix0(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRemovePathSuffix0(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		in  string
+		out string
+	}{
+		{
+			in:  "/simple1/",
+			out: "/",
+		},
+		{
+			in:  "/simple1/foo/bar/",
+			out: "/simple1/foo/",
+		},
+		{
+			in:  "/simple1/foo/",
+			out: "/simple1/",
+		},
+		// TODO: are these what we want?
+		{
+			in:  "/simple1/foo",
+			out: "/simple1/",
+		},
+		{
+			in:  "/simple1",
+			out: "/",
+		},
+	}
+	for _, test := range testCases {
+		out, err := RemovePathSuffix(test.in)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("error: %+v", err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if test.out != out {
+			t.Errorf("failed: %s -> %s (exp: %s)", test.in, out, test.out)
+			continue
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestPriorityStrSliceSort0(t *testing.T) {
 	in := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}
 	ex := []string{"bar", "baz", "foo"}