diff --git a/Doc/lib/libposixpath.tex b/Doc/lib/libposixpath.tex
index aa790e7693b..e79df3e7444 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libposixpath.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libposixpath.tex
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@ Normalize a pathname.  This collapses redundant separators and
 up-level references, e.g. \code{A//B}, \code{A/./B} and
 \code{A/foo/../B} all become \code{A/B}.  It does not normalize the
 case (use \function{normcase()} for that).  On Windows, it converts
-forward slashes to backward slashes.
+forward slashes to backward slashes. It should be understood that this may
+change the meaning of the path if it contains symbolic links! 
 \end{funcdesc}
 
 \begin{funcdesc}{realpath}{path}
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index cebee3e0128..04ab6dd6a47 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ C API
 Documentation
 -------------
 
+- bug 990669: os.path.normpath may alter the meaning of a path if it contains
+symbolic links. This has been documented in a comment since 1992, but is now in
+the library reference as well.
+
 New platforms
 -------------