diff --git a/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py b/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
index 46db6b4..b74320d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_urllib2.py
@@ -838,6 +838,25 @@
             p_ds_req = h.do_request_(ds_req)
             self.assertEqual(p_ds_req.unredirected_hdrs["Host"],"example.com")
 
+    def test_fixpath_in_weirdurls(self):
+        # Issue4493: urllib2 to supply '/' when to urls where path does not
+        # start with'/'
+
+        h = urllib2.AbstractHTTPHandler()
+        o = h.parent = MockOpener()
+
+        weird_url = 'http://www.python.org?getspam'
+        req = Request(weird_url)
+        newreq = h.do_request_(req)
+        self.assertEqual(newreq.get_host(),'www.python.org')
+        self.assertEqual(newreq.get_selector(),'/?getspam')
+
+        url_without_path = 'http://www.python.org'
+        req = Request(url_without_path)
+        newreq = h.do_request_(req)
+        self.assertEqual(newreq.get_host(),'www.python.org')
+        self.assertEqual(newreq.get_selector(),'')
+
     def test_errors(self):
         h = urllib2.HTTPErrorProcessor()
         o = h.parent = MockOpener()
diff --git a/Lib/urllib.py b/Lib/urllib.py
index d85dedb..1553f9d 100644
--- a/Lib/urllib.py
+++ b/Lib/urllib.py
@@ -1052,7 +1052,12 @@
         _hostprog = re.compile('^//([^/?]*)(.*)$')
 
     match = _hostprog.match(url)
-    if match: return match.group(1, 2)
+    if match:
+        host_port = match.group(1)
+        path = match.group(2)
+        if path and not path.startswith('/'):
+            path = '/' + path
+        return host_port, path
     return None, url
 
 _userprog = None