diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/util.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/util.php
index f3e040d4..e4bb2a3d 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/util.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/inc/util.php
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 <?php
 
 
+function normalize_path($path, $trailing_slash = false) {
+
+	$path = preg_replace("#\\\\+|/+#", "/", $path);
+	return preg_match("#^(\w:)?/$#", $path) ? $path : (rtrim($path, "/") . ($trailing_slash ? "/" : ""));
+}
+
+
 function json_exit($obj = array()) {
 
 	$obj["code"] = 0;
@@ -86,28 +93,10 @@ function exec_cmdv($cmdv) {
 }
 
 
-function delete_path($path, $recursive = false) {
 
-	if (is_file($path)) {
-		return @unlink($path);
-	}
-
-	if (is_dir($path)) {
-		if ($recursive === true && $dir = opendir($path)) {
-			while (($name = readdir($dir)) !== false) {
-				delete_path($path . "/" . $name);
-			}
-			closedir($dir);
-		}
-
-		return @rmdir($path);
-	}
-
-	return false;
-}
-
-
-// debug tools
+/*********************************************************************
+  Debug Tools
+*********************************************************************/
 
 function err_log($message, $obj = null) {
 
diff --git a/src/_h5ai/server/php/index.php b/src/_h5ai/server/php/index.php
index 1590ad62..c117b81e 100644
--- a/src/_h5ai/server/php/index.php
+++ b/src/_h5ai/server/php/index.php
@@ -11,15 +11,9 @@ define("PASSHASH", "da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709");
 
 
 
-function normalize_path($path, $trailing_slash = false) {
-
-	$path = preg_replace("#\\\\+|/+#", "/", $path);
-	return preg_match("#^(\w:)?/$#", $path) ? $path : (rtrim($path, "/") . ($trailing_slash ? "/" : ""));
-}
-
 function normalized_require_once($lib) {
 
-	require_once(normalize_path(dirname(__FILE__) . "/inc/${lib}.php", false));
+	require_once(preg_replace("#\\\\+|/+#", "/", dirname(__FILE__) . "/inc/${lib}.php"));
 }
 
 normalized_require_once("util");