diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/azw4/reader.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/azw4/reader.py
index a73108906c..6fe792100e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/azw4/reader.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/azw4/reader.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import os
 import re
 
 from calibre.ebooks.pdb.formatreader import FormatReader
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 def unwrap(stream, output_path):
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ class Reader(FormatReader):
         if mo:
             data = mo.group()
 
-        pdf_n = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), 'tmp.pdf')
+        pdf_n = os.path.join(getcwd(), 'tmp.pdf')
         with open(pdf_n, 'wb') as pdf:
             pdf.write(data)
         from calibre.customize.ui import plugin_for_input_format
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/reader.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/reader.py
index 0b4a1366d7..b3f60ec868 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/reader.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/chm/reader.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from calibre.utils.chm.chm import CHMFile
 from calibre.constants import plugins
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.toc import TOC
 from calibre.ebooks.chardet import xml_to_unicode
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, getcwd
 
 
 chmlib, chmlib_err = plugins['chmlib']
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class CHMReader(CHMFile):
             self.root, ext = os.path.splitext(self.topics.lstrip('/'))
             self.hhc_path = self.root + ".hhc"
 
-    def _parse_toc(self, ul, basedir=os.getcwdu()):
+    def _parse_toc(self, ul, basedir=getcwd()):
         toc = TOC(play_order=self._playorder, base_path=basedir, text='')
         self._playorder += 1
         for li in ul('li', recursive=False):
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ class CHMReader(CHMFile):
             raise CHMError("'%s' is zero bytes in length!"%(path,))
         return data
 
-    def ExtractFiles(self, output_dir=os.getcwdu(), debug_dump=False):
+    def ExtractFiles(self, output_dir=getcwd(), debug_dump=False):
         html_files = set([])
         try:
             x = self.get_encoding()
@@ -288,5 +288,5 @@ class CHMReader(CHMFile):
         if not os.path.isdir(dir):
             os.makedirs(dir)
 
-    def extract_content(self, output_dir=os.getcwdu(), debug_dump=False):
+    def extract_content(self, output_dir=getcwd(), debug_dump=False):
         self.ExtractFiles(output_dir=output_dir, debug_dump=debug_dump)
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/azw4_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/azw4_input.py
index 728bdf5cf2..7bceded58f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/azw4_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/azw4_input.py
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2011, John Schember <john@nachtimwald.com>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import os
-
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class AZW4Input(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -24,6 +23,6 @@ class AZW4Input(InputFormatPlugin):
 
         header = PdbHeaderReader(stream)
         reader = Reader(header, stream, log, options)
-        opf = reader.extract_content(os.getcwdu())
+        opf = reader.extract_content(getcwd())
 
         return opf
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py
index 016ffa35f5..75ed0e03be 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/comic_input.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import shutil, textwrap, codecs, os
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
 from calibre import CurrentDir
 from calibre.ptempfile import PersistentTemporaryDirectory
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class ComicInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -190,7 +191,7 @@ class ComicInput(InputFormatPlugin):
 
         mi  = MetaInformation(os.path.basename(stream.name).rpartition('.')[0],
             [_('Unknown')])
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         entries = []
 
         def href(x):
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/djvu_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/djvu_input.py
index e8dd1460d6..dacd04f197 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/djvu_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/djvu_input.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import os
 from io import BytesIO
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class DJVUInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ class DJVUInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         for opt in html_input.options:
             setattr(options, opt.option.name, opt.recommended_value)
         options.input_encoding = 'utf-8'
-        base = os.getcwdu()
+        base = getcwd()
         fname = os.path.join(base, 'index.html')
         c = 0
         while os.path.exists(fname):
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/epub_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/epub_input.py
index ae609769c5..5aa689ce97 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/epub_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/epub_input.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import os, re, posixpath
 from itertools import cycle
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, as_bytes
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, as_bytes, getcwd
 
 ADOBE_OBFUSCATION =  'http://ns.adobe.com/pdf/enc#RC'
 IDPF_OBFUSCATION = 'http://www.idpf.org/2008/embedding'
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ class EPUBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                     path = attr(r, 'full-path')
                     if not path:
                         continue
-                    path = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), *path.split('/'))
+                    path = os.path.join(getcwd(), *path.split('/'))
                     if os.path.exists(path):
                         return path
         except Exception:
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ class EPUBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPF
         try:
             zf = ZipFile(stream)
-            zf.extractall(os.getcwdu())
+            zf.extractall(getcwd())
         except:
             log.exception('EPUB appears to be invalid ZIP file, trying a'
                     ' more forgiving ZIP parser')
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ class EPUBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         if opf is None:
             raise ValueError('%s is not a valid EPUB file (could not find opf)'%path)
 
-        opf = os.path.relpath(opf, os.getcwdu())
+        opf = os.path.relpath(opf, getcwd())
         parts = os.path.split(opf)
         opf = OPF(opf, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(opf)))
 
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ class EPUBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
 
         with NamedTemporaryFile(suffix='.ncx', dir=os.path.dirname(nav_path), delete=False) as f:
             f.write(etree.tostring(ncx, encoding='utf-8'))
-        ncx_href = os.path.relpath(f.name, os.getcwdu()).replace(os.sep, '/')
+        ncx_href = os.path.relpath(f.name, getcwd()).replace(os.sep, '/')
         ncx_id = opf.create_manifest_item(ncx_href, NCX_MIME, append=True).get('id')
         for spine in opf.root.xpath('//*[local-name()="spine"]'):
             spine.set('toc', ncx_id)
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/fb2_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/fb2_input.py
index dcd6793021..9992797e3d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/fb2_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/fb2_input.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import os, re
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
 from calibre import guess_type
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, getcwd
 
 FB2NS  = 'http://www.gribuser.ru/xml/fictionbook/2.0'
 FB21NS = 'http://www.gribuser.ru/xml/fictionbook/2.1'
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class FB2Input(InputFormatPlugin):
                     cpath = os.path.abspath(href)
                     break
 
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         entries = [(f2, guess_type(f2)[0]) for f2 in os.listdir(u'.')]
         opf.create_manifest(entries)
         opf.create_spine([u'index.xhtml'])
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ class FB2Input(InputFormatPlugin):
             opf.guide.set_cover(cpath)
         with open(u'metadata.opf', 'wb') as f:
             opf.render(f)
-        return os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), u'metadata.opf')
+        return os.path.join(getcwd(), u'metadata.opf')
 
     def extract_embedded_content(self, doc):
         from calibre.ebooks.fb2 import base64_decode
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/html_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/html_input.py
index c1ee9ffd9e..a20349768a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/html_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/html_input.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from calibre.customize.conversion import (InputFormatPlugin,
 from calibre.utils.localization import get_lang
 from calibre.utils.filenames import ascii_filename
 from calibre.utils.imghdr import what
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, zip
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, zip, getcwd
 
 
 def sanitize_file_name(x):
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class HTMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
     def convert(self, stream, opts, file_ext, log,
                 accelerators):
         self._is_case_sensitive = None
-        basedir = os.getcwdu()
+        basedir = getcwd()
         self.opts = opts
 
         fname = None
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ class HTMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                 continue
             toc.add(title, item.href)
 
-        oeb.container = DirContainer(os.getcwdu(), oeb.log, ignore_opf=True)
+        oeb.container = DirContainer(getcwd(), oeb.log, ignore_opf=True)
         return oeb
 
     def link_to_local_path(self, link_, base=None):
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ class HTMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                 self.log.warn('Failed to decode link %r. Ignoring'%link_)
                 return None, None
         try:
-            l = Link(link_, base if base else os.getcwdu())
+            l = Link(link_, base if base else getcwd())
         except:
             self.log.exception('Failed to process link: %r'%link_)
             return None, None
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/htmlz_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/htmlz_input.py
index 13ec992574..af38615506 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/htmlz_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/htmlz_input.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import os
 
 from calibre import guess_type
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class HTMLZInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ class HTMLZInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         for opt in html_input.options:
             setattr(options, opt.option.name, opt.recommended_value)
         options.input_encoding = 'utf-8'
-        base = os.getcwdu()
+        base = getcwd()
         fname = os.path.join(base, u'index.html')
         c = 0
         while os.path.exists(fname):
@@ -117,12 +118,12 @@ class HTMLZInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                 opf = x
                 break
         if opf:
-            opf = OPF(opf, basedir=os.getcwdu())
+            opf = OPF(opf, basedir=getcwd())
             cover_path = opf.raster_cover or opf.cover
         # Set the cover.
         if cover_path:
             cdata = None
-            with open(os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), cover_path), 'rb') as cf:
+            with open(os.path.join(getcwd(), cover_path), 'rb') as cf:
                 cdata = cf.read()
             cover_name = os.path.basename(cover_path)
             id, href = oeb.manifest.generate('cover', cover_name)
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_input.py
index dc54a7eb07..970b605a14 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdb_input.py
@@ -4,9 +4,8 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2009, John Schember <john@nachtimwald.com>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import os
-
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class PDBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -32,6 +31,6 @@ class PDBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         log.debug('Detected ebook format as: %s with identity: %s' % (IDENTITY_TO_NAME[header.ident], header.ident))
 
         reader = Reader(header, stream, log, options)
-        opf = reader.extract_content(os.getcwdu())
+        opf = reader.extract_content(getcwd())
 
         return opf
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdf_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdf_input.py
index f1e7127db3..4bbebb01bf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdf_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pdf_input.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 import os
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
-from polyglot.builtins import as_bytes
+from polyglot.builtins import as_bytes, getcwd
 
 
 class PDFInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ class PDFInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         from calibre.utils.cleantext import clean_ascii_chars
         from calibre.ebooks.pdf.reflow import PDFDocument
 
-        pdftohtml(os.getcwdu(), stream.name, self.opts.no_images, as_xml=True)
+        pdftohtml(getcwd(), stream.name, self.opts.no_images, as_xml=True)
         with open(u'index.xml', 'rb') as f:
             xml = clean_ascii_chars(f.read())
         PDFDocument(xml, self.opts, self.log)
-        return os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), u'metadata.opf')
+        return os.path.join(getcwd(), u'metadata.opf')
 
     def convert(self, stream, options, file_ext, log,
                 accelerators):
@@ -50,16 +50,16 @@ class PDFInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         self.opts, self.log = options, log
         if options.new_pdf_engine:
             return self.convert_new(stream, accelerators)
-        pdftohtml(os.getcwdu(), stream.name, options.no_images)
+        pdftohtml(getcwd(), stream.name, options.no_images)
 
         from calibre.ebooks.metadata.meta import get_metadata
         log.debug('Retrieving document metadata...')
         mi = get_metadata(stream, 'pdf')
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
 
         manifest = [(u'index.html', None)]
 
-        images = os.listdir(os.getcwdu())
+        images = os.listdir(getcwd())
         images.remove('index.html')
         for i in images:
             manifest.append((i, None))
@@ -78,4 +78,4 @@ class PDFInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                     f.seek(0)
                     f.write(raw)
 
-        return os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), u'metadata.opf')
+        return os.path.join(getcwd(), u'metadata.opf')
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pml_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pml_input.py
index b741fefd59..3388bdefd3 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pml_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/pml_input.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import shutil
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
 from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -72,10 +73,10 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         if not imgs:
             imgs = glob.glob(os.path.join(os.path.join(tdir, u'images'), u'*.png'))
         if imgs:
-            os.makedirs(os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), u'images'))
+            os.makedirs(os.path.join(getcwd(), u'images'))
         for img in imgs:
             pimg_name = os.path.basename(img)
-            pimg_path = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), 'images', pimg_name)
+            pimg_path = os.path.join(getcwd(), 'images', pimg_name)
 
             images.append('images/' + pimg_name)
 
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
                 pmls = glob.glob(os.path.join(tdir, u'*.pml'))
                 for pml in pmls:
                     html_name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(pml))[0]+'.html'
-                    html_path = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), html_name)
+                    html_path = os.path.join(getcwd(), html_name)
 
                     pages.append(html_name)
                     log.debug('Processing PML item %s...' % pml)
@@ -129,7 +130,7 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         mi = get_metadata(stream, 'pml')
         if 'images/cover.png' in images:
             mi.cover = u'images/cover.png'
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         log.debug('Generating manifest...')
         opf.create_manifest(manifest_items)
         opf.create_spine(pages)
@@ -138,4 +139,4 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
             with open(u'toc.ncx', 'wb') as tocfile:
                 opf.render(opffile, tocfile, u'toc.ncx')
 
-        return os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), u'metadata.opf')
+        return os.path.join(getcwd(), u'metadata.opf')
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rb_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rb_input.py
index a948124c52..3d7f93c192 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rb_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rb_input.py
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ __license__ = 'GPL 3'
 __copyright__ = '2009, John Schember <john@nachtimwald.com>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import os
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class RBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -22,6 +22,6 @@ class RBInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         from calibre.ebooks.rb.reader import Reader
 
         reader = Reader(stream, log, options.input_encoding)
-        opf = reader.extract_content(os.getcwdu())
+        opf = reader.extract_content(getcwd())
 
         return opf
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rtf_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rtf_input.py
index 5bf2d79475..bd6edd0421 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rtf_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/rtf_input.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ __copyright__ = '2008, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 import os, glob, re, textwrap
 
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, filter
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, filter, getcwd
 
 border_style_map = {
         'single' : 'solid',
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ class RTFInput(InputFormatPlugin):
             mi.title = _('Unknown')
         if not mi.authors:
             mi.authors = [_('Unknown')]
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         opf.create_manifest([(u'index.xhtml', None)])
         opf.create_spine([u'index.xhtml'])
         opf.render(open(u'metadata.opf', 'wb'))
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/txt_input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/txt_input.py
index bf12f3247a..f5def565d2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/txt_input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/plugins/txt_input.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import os
 
 from calibre import _ent_pat, walk, xml_entity_to_unicode
 from calibre.customize.conversion import InputFormatPlugin, OptionRecommendation
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 MD_EXTENSIONS = {
     'abbr': _('Abbreviations'),
@@ -140,7 +141,7 @@ class TXTInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         txt = ''
         log.debug('Reading text from file...')
         length = 0
-        base_dir = os.getcwdu()
+        base_dir = getcwd()
 
         # Extract content from zip archive.
         if file_ext == 'txtz':
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
index e2ce8491d5..41ec5cb6ce 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/lrf/html/convert_from.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import os, re, sys, copy, glob, tempfile
 from collections import deque
 from math import ceil, floor
 from functools import partial
-from polyglot.builtins import string_or_bytes, itervalues
+from polyglot.builtins import string_or_bytes, itervalues, getcwd
 from itertools import chain
 
 try:
@@ -1911,7 +1911,7 @@ def process_file(path, options, logger):
     if not oname:
         suffix = '.lrs' if options.lrs else '.lrf'
         name = os.path.splitext(os.path.basename(path))[0] + suffix
-        oname = os.path.join(os.getcwdu(), name)
+        oname = os.path.join(getcwd(), name)
     oname = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(oname))
     conv.writeto(oname, lrs=options.lrs)
     conv.cleanup()
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
index 106f28289e..149733dd7e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/__init__.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import os, sys, re
 
 from calibre import relpath, guess_type, remove_bracketed_text, prints, force_unicode
 from calibre.utils.config_base import tweaks
-from polyglot.builtins import codepoint_to_chr, unicode_type, range, map, zip
+from polyglot.builtins import codepoint_to_chr, unicode_type, range, map, zip, getcwd
 from polyglot.urllib import quote, unquote, urlparse
 
 
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ class Resource(object):
 
     '''
 
-    def __init__(self, href_or_path, basedir=os.getcwdu(), is_path=True):
+    def __init__(self, href_or_path, basedir=getcwd(), is_path=True):
         self._href = None
         self._basedir = basedir
         self.path = None
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ class Resource(object):
             if self._basedir:
                 basedir = self._basedir
             else:
-                basedir = os.getcwdu()
+                basedir = getcwd()
         if self.path is None:
             return self._href
         f = self.fragment.encode('utf-8') if isinstance(self.fragment, unicode_type) else self.fragment
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
index f6ca8ae1bc..ebb2427eb5 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata import string_to_authors, authors_to_sort_string, \
 from calibre.ebooks.lrf.meta import LRFMetaFile
 from calibre import prints
 from calibre.utils.date import parse_date
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, getcwd
 
 USAGE=_('%prog ebook_file [options]\n') + \
 _('''
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ def main(args=sys.argv):
 
     if opts.to_opf is not None:
         from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPFCreator
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         with open(opts.to_opf, 'wb') as f:
             opf.render(f)
         prints(_('OPF created in'), opts.to_opf)
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/epub.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/epub.py
index 1828a76639..5e2ea5f503 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/epub.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/epub.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPF
 from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 from calibre.utils.localunzip import LocalZipFile
 from calibre.utils.zipfile import BadZipfile, ZipFile, safe_replace
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 class EPubException(Exception):
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ class OCFZipReader(OCFReader):
             if name:
                 self.root = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(name))
             else:
-                self.root = os.getcwdu()
+                self.root = getcwd()
         super(OCFZipReader, self).__init__()
 
     def open(self, name, mode='r'):
@@ -284,7 +285,7 @@ def serialize_cover_data(new_cdata, cpath):
 
 def set_metadata(stream, mi, apply_null=False, update_timestamp=False, force_identifiers=False, add_missing_cover=True):
     stream.seek(0)
-    reader = get_zip_reader(stream, root=os.getcwdu())
+    reader = get_zip_reader(stream, root=getcwd())
     new_cdata = None
     try:
         new_cdata = mi.cover_data[1]
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/lit.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/lit.py
index d2f078487d..fd63766f02 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/lit.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/lit.py
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ __copyright__ = '2008, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 Support for reading the metadata from a LIT file.
 '''
 
-import io, os
+import io
 
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPF
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 def get_metadata(stream):
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ def get_metadata(stream):
     litfile = LitContainer(stream, Log())
     src = litfile.get_metadata().encode('utf-8')
     litfile = litfile._litfile
-    opf = OPF(io.BytesIO(src), os.getcwdu())
+    opf = OPF(io.BytesIO(src), getcwd())
     mi = opf.to_book_metadata()
     covers = []
     for item in opf.iterguide():
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/meta.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/meta.py
index 7a8299dc19..caee318292 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/meta.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/meta.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPF
 from calibre import isbytestring
 from calibre.customize.ui import get_file_type_metadata, set_file_type_metadata
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata import MetaInformation, string_to_authors
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 _METADATA_PRIORITIES = [
                        'html', 'htm', 'xhtml', 'xhtm',
@@ -202,7 +203,7 @@ def metadata_from_filename(name, pat=None, fallback_pat=None):
 def opf_metadata(opfpath):
     if hasattr(opfpath, 'read'):
         f = opfpath
-        opfpath = getattr(f, 'name', os.getcwdu())
+        opfpath = getattr(f, 'name', getcwd())
     else:
         f = open(opfpath, 'rb')
     try:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
index fac370191f..2f28cae76a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from calibre.utils.localization import get_lang, canonicalize_lang
 from calibre import prints, guess_type
 from calibre.utils.cleantext import clean_ascii_chars, clean_xml_chars
 from calibre.utils.config import tweaks
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, getcwd
 from polyglot.urllib import unquote, urlparse
 
 pretty_print_opf = False
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class Resource(object):  # {{{
     :method:`href`
     '''
 
-    def __init__(self, href_or_path, basedir=os.getcwdu(), is_path=True):
+    def __init__(self, href_or_path, basedir=getcwd(), is_path=True):
         self.orig = href_or_path
         self._href = None
         self._basedir = basedir
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class Resource(object):  # {{{
             if self._basedir:
                 basedir = self._basedir
             else:
-                basedir = os.getcwdu()
+                basedir = getcwd()
         if self.path is None:
             return self._href
         f = self.fragment.encode('utf-8') if isinstance(self.fragment, unicode_type) else self.fragment
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ class Guide(ResourceCollection):  # {{{
             return ans + '/>'
 
     @staticmethod
-    def from_opf_guide(references, base_dir=os.getcwdu()):
+    def from_opf_guide(references, base_dir=getcwd()):
         coll = Guide()
         for ref in references:
             try:
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ class OPF(object):  # {{{
     author_link_map = MetadataField('author_link_map', is_dc=False,
                                 formatter=json.loads, renderer=dump_dict)
 
-    def __init__(self, stream, basedir=os.getcwdu(), unquote_urls=True,
+    def __init__(self, stream, basedir=getcwd(), unquote_urls=True,
             populate_spine=True, try_to_guess_cover=True, preparsed_opf=None, read_toc=True):
         self.try_to_guess_cover = try_to_guess_cover
         self.basedir  = self.base_dir = basedir
@@ -1780,7 +1780,7 @@ b'''\
 </package>
 '''
         )
-        self.opf = OPF(self.stream, os.getcwdu())
+        self.opf = OPF(self.stream, getcwd())
 
     def testReading(self, opf=None):
         if opf is None:
@@ -1811,11 +1811,11 @@ b'''\
         self.opf.render()
 
     def testCreator(self):
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), self.opf)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), self.opf)
         buf = io.BytesIO()
         opf.render(buf)
         raw = buf.getvalue()
-        self.testReading(opf=OPF(io.BytesIO(raw), os.getcwdu()))
+        self.testReading(opf=OPF(io.BytesIO(raw), getcwd()))
 
     def testSmartUpdate(self):
         self.opf.smart_update(MetaInformation(self.opf))
@@ -1842,7 +1842,7 @@ def test_user_metadata():
         }
     mi.set_all_user_metadata(um)
     raw = metadata_to_opf(mi)
-    opfc = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), other=mi)
+    opfc = OPFCreator(getcwd(), other=mi)
     out = io.BytesIO()
     opfc.render(out)
     raw2 = out.getvalue()
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/toc.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/toc.py
index 515915b8b8..7d4cc06dd8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/toc.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/toc.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from lxml.builder import ElementMaker
 from calibre.constants import __appname__, __version__
 from calibre.ebooks.chardet import xml_to_unicode
 from calibre.utils.cleantext import clean_xml_chars
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, getcwd
 from polyglot.urllib import unquote, urlparse
 
 NCX_NS = "http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx/"
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def parse_html_toc(data):
 class TOC(list):
 
     def __init__(self, href=None, fragment=None, text=None, parent=None,
-            play_order=0, base_path=os.getcwdu(), type='unknown', author=None,
+            play_order=0, base_path=getcwd(), type='unknown', author=None,
             description=None, toc_thumbnail=None):
         self.href = href
         self.fragment = fragment
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/zip.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/zip.py
index 59725783bf..b3ba1723dc 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/zip.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/zip.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import os
 from calibre.utils.zipfile import ZipFile
 from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 from calibre import CurrentDir
+from polyglot.builtins import getcwd
 
 
 def get_metadata(stream):
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ def zip_opf_metadata(opfpath, zf):
     from calibre.ebooks.metadata.opf2 import OPF
     if hasattr(opfpath, 'read'):
         f = opfpath
-        opfpath = getattr(f, 'name', os.getcwdu())
+        opfpath = getattr(f, 'name', getcwd())
     else:
         f = open(opfpath, 'rb')
     opf = OPF(f, os.path.dirname(opfpath))
@@ -65,4 +66,3 @@ def zip_opf_metadata(opfpath, zf):
             data = zf.read(covername)
             mi.cover_data = (fmt, data)
     return mi
-
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/mobi8.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/mobi8.py
index be4cb554fe..6fb58c62e7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/mobi8.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/mobi8.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata.toc import TOC
 from calibre.ebooks.mobi.utils import read_font_record
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.parse_utils import parse_html
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XPath, XHTML, xml2text
-from polyglot.builtins import range, zip, unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import range, zip, unicode_type, getcwd
 from polyglot.urllib import urldefrag
 
 Part = namedtuple('Part',
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ class Mobi8Reader(object):
                 if isinstance(idtext, bytes):
                     idtext = idtext.decode(self.header.codec)
                 linktgt += '#' + idtext
-            g = Guide.Reference(linktgt, os.getcwdu())
+            g = Guide.Reference(linktgt, getcwd())
             g.title, g.type = ref_title, ref_type
             if g.title == 'start' or g.type == 'text':
                 has_start = True
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ class Mobi8Reader(object):
                 linktgt = fi.filename
                 if idtext:
                     linktgt += '#' + idtext
-                g = Guide.Reference('%s/%s'%(fi.type, linktgt), os.getcwdu())
+                g = Guide.Reference('%s/%s'%(fi.type, linktgt), getcwd())
                 g.title, g.type = 'start', 'text'
                 guide.append(g)
 
@@ -486,7 +486,7 @@ class Mobi8Reader(object):
                         except:
                             self.log.exception('Failed to read inline ToC')
 
-        opf = OPFCreator(os.getcwdu(), mi)
+        opf = OPFCreator(getcwd(), mi)
         opf.guide = guide
 
         def exclude(path):
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ class Mobi8Reader(object):
             except:
                 pass
 
-        opf.create_manifest_from_files_in([os.getcwdu()], exclude=exclude)
+        opf.create_manifest_from_files_in([getcwd()], exclude=exclude)
         for entry in opf.manifest:
             if entry.mime_type == 'text/html':
                 entry.mime_type = 'application/xhtml+xml'
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/ncx.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/ncx.py
index c98b6aa891..f41ce121ee 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/ncx.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader/ncx.py
@@ -7,13 +7,11 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2012, Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
-import os
-
 from calibre import replace_entities
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.toc import TOC
 from calibre.ebooks.mobi.reader.headers import NULL_INDEX
 from calibre.ebooks.mobi.reader.index import read_index
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, getcwd
 
 tag_fieldname_map = {
         1:  ['pos',0],
@@ -84,7 +82,7 @@ def read_ncx(sections, index, codec):
 
 
 def build_toc(index_entries):
-    ans = TOC(base_path=os.getcwdu())
+    ans = TOC(base_path=getcwd())
     levels = {x['hlvl'] for x in index_entries}
     num_map = {-1: ans}
     level_map = {l:[x for x in index_entries if x['hlvl'] == l] for l in
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/odt/input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/odt/input.py
index e62c080e35..c5bcc18378 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/odt/input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/odt/input.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from odf.namespaces import TEXTNS as odTEXTNS
 
 from calibre import CurrentDir, walk
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import _css_logger
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, string_or_bytes, filter
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, string_or_bytes, filter, getcwd
 
 
 class Extract(ODF2XHTML):
@@ -295,9 +295,9 @@ class Extract(ODF2XHTML):
                 f.write(html.encode('utf-8'))
             zf = ZipFile(stream, 'r')
             self.extract_pictures(zf)
-            opf = OPFCreator(os.path.abspath(os.getcwdu()), mi)
+            opf = OPFCreator(os.path.abspath(getcwd()), mi)
             opf.create_manifest([(os.path.abspath(f2), None) for f2 in
-                walk(os.getcwdu())])
+                walk(getcwd())])
             opf.create_spine([os.path.abspath('index.xhtml')])
             with open('metadata.opf', 'wb') as f:
                 opf.render(f)
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
index 5d73912cd0..200b45a2e7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/single_download.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ from calibre import force_unicode
 from calibre.utils.config import tweaks
 from calibre.utils.ipc.simple_worker import fork_job, WorkerError
 from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, itervalues, unicode_type, range
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, itervalues, unicode_type, range, getcwd
 from polyglot.queue import Queue, Empty
 # }}}
 
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ class IdentifyWorker(Thread):  # {{{
                         'single_identify', (self.title, self.authors,
                             self.identifiers), no_output=True, abort=self.abort)
                 self.results, covers, caches, log_dump = res['result']
-                self.results = [OPF(BytesIO(r), basedir=os.getcwdu(),
+                self.results = [OPF(BytesIO(r), basedir=getcwd(),
                     populate_spine=False).to_book_metadata() for r in self.results]
                 for r, cov in zip(self.results, covers):
                     r.has_cached_cover_url = cov
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/widgets.py b/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/widgets.py
index 835b038d4b..2539c835f4 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/widgets.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/tweak_book/widgets.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from calibre.gui2.widgets2 import Dialog as BaseDialog, HistoryComboBox
 from calibre.utils.icu import primary_sort_key, sort_key, primary_contains, numeric_sort_key
 from calibre.utils.matcher import get_char, Matcher
 from calibre.gui2.complete2 import EditWithComplete
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, zip
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, zip, getcwd
 
 ROOT = QModelIndex()
 PARAGRAPH_SEPARATOR = '\u2029'
@@ -470,9 +470,8 @@ class QuickOpen(Dialog):
 
     @classmethod
     def test(cls):
-        import os
         from calibre.utils.matcher import get_items_from_dir
-        items = get_items_from_dir(os.getcwdu(), lambda x:not x.endswith('.pyc'))
+        items = get_items_from_dir(getcwd(), lambda x:not x.endswith('.pyc'))
         d = cls(items)
         d.exec_()
         print(d.selected_result)
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/launch.py b/src/calibre/utils/ipc/launch.py
index 5e51ac9717..219969842c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/ipc/launch.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/ipc/launch.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from calibre.constants import iswindows, isosx, isfrozen, filesystem_encoding, i
 from calibre.utils.config import prefs
 from calibre.ptempfile import PersistentTemporaryFile, base_dir
 from calibre.utils.serialize import msgpack_dumps
-from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, string_or_bytes, environ_item, native_string_type
+from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, unicode_type, string_or_bytes, environ_item, native_string_type, getcwd
 from polyglot.binary import as_hex_unicode
 
 if iswindows:
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Worker(object):
         exe = self.gui_executable if self.gui else self.executable
         env = self.env
         try:
-            origwd = cwd or os.path.abspath(os.getcwdu())
+            origwd = cwd or os.path.abspath(getcwd())
         except EnvironmentError:
             # cwd no longer exists
             origwd = cwd or os.path.expanduser(u'~')