diff --git a/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp b/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
index 299d528..7ae4d2f 100644
--- a/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/filesystem/path.hpp
@@ -359,6 +359,7 @@ namespace filesystem
       ;  // change slashes to backslashes
 #   endif
     path&  remove_filename();
+    path&  remove_trailing_separator();
     path&  replace_extension(const path& new_extension = path());
     void   swap(path& rhs)     { m_pathname.swap(rhs.m_pathname); }
 
diff --git a/src/operations.cpp b/src/operations.cpp
index fad4070..8e8ae28 100644
--- a/src/operations.cpp
+++ b/src/operations.cpp
@@ -1798,10 +1798,9 @@ namespace detail
         return path();
       }
           
-      buf.pop_back();
-      
-      path p(buf.begin(), buf.end());
-          
+      path p(&*buf.begin());  // ticket #10388; note C++03 vector must be contiguous
+      p.remove_trailing_separator();   // remove trailing backslash
+
       if ((ec&&!is_directory(p, *ec))||(!ec&&!is_directory(p)))
       {
         ::SetLastError(ENOTDIR);
diff --git a/src/path.cpp b/src/path.cpp
index 0bb70a1..df8d8dd 100644
--- a/src/path.cpp
+++ b/src/path.cpp
@@ -254,6 +254,13 @@ namespace filesystem
     return *this;
   }
 
+  path&  path::remove_trailing_separator()
+  {
+    if (!m_pathname.empty() && is_separator(m_pathname[m_pathname.size() - 1]))
+      m_pathname.erase(m_pathname.size() - 1);
+    return *this;
+  }
+
   path& path::replace_extension(const path& new_extension)
   {
     // erase existing extension, including the dot, if any