@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ def _set_cache_(self, attr: str) -> None:
         # END handle version info
 
     @property
-    def working_dir(self) -> Union[None, str]:
+    def working_dir(self) -> Union[None, PathLike]:
         """:return: Git directory we are working on"""
         return self._working_dir
 
@@ -1187,7 +1187,7 @@ def __get_object_header(self, cmd, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int]:
         cmd.stdin.flush()
         return self._parse_object_header(cmd.stdout.readline())
 
-    def get_object_header(self, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int]:
+    def get_object_header(self, ref: str) -> Tuple[str, str, int]:
         """ Use this method to quickly examine the type and size of the object behind
         the given ref.
 
@@ -1198,7 +1198,7 @@ def get_object_header(self, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int]:
         cmd = self._get_persistent_cmd("cat_file_header", "cat_file", batch_check=True)
         return self.__get_object_header(cmd, ref)
 
-    def get_object_data(self, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int, bytes]:
+    def get_object_data(self, ref: str) -> Tuple[str, str, int, bytes]:
         """ As get_object_header, but returns object data as well
         :return: (hexsha, type_string, size_as_int,data_string)
         :note: not threadsafe"""
@@ -1207,7 +1207,7 @@ def get_object_data(self, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int, bytes]:
         del(stream)
         return (hexsha, typename, size, data)
 
-    def stream_object_data(self, ref: AnyStr) -> Tuple[str, str, int, 'Git.CatFileContentStream']:
+    def stream_object_data(self, ref: str) -> Tuple[str, str, int, 'Git.CatFileContentStream']:
         """ As get_object_header, but returns the data as a stream
 
         :return: (hexsha, type_string, size_as_int, stream)
 
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 # typing-------------------------------------------------
 
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, AnyStr
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from git.types import PathLike
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -39,18 +39,18 @@ def __init__(self, root_path: PathLike, git: 'Git') -> None:
         super(GitCmdObjectDB, self).__init__(root_path)
         self._git = git
 
-    def info(self, sha: bytes) -> OInfo:
-        hexsha, typename, size = self._git.get_object_header(bin_to_hex(sha))
+    def info(self, binsha: bytes) -> OInfo:
+        hexsha, typename, size = self._git.get_object_header(bin_to_hex(binsha))
         return OInfo(hex_to_bin(hexsha), typename, size)
 
-    def stream(self, sha: bytes) -> OStream:
+    def stream(self, binsha: bytes) -> OStream:
         """For now, all lookup is done by git itself"""
-        hexsha, typename, size, stream = self._git.stream_object_data(bin_to_hex(sha))
+        hexsha, typename, size, stream = self._git.stream_object_data(bin_to_hex(binsha))
         return OStream(hex_to_bin(hexsha), typename, size, stream)
 
     # { Interface
 
-    def partial_to_complete_sha_hex(self, partial_hexsha: AnyStr) -> bytes:
+    def partial_to_complete_sha_hex(self, partial_hexsha: str) -> bytes:
         """:return: Full binary 20 byte sha from the given partial hexsha
         :raise AmbiguousObjectName:
         :raise BadObject:
 
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ def merge_tree(self, rhs: Treeish, base: Union[None, Treeish] = None) -> 'IndexF
         return self
 
     @classmethod
-    def new(cls, repo: 'Repo', *tree_sha: bytes) -> 'IndexFile':
+    def new(cls, repo: 'Repo', *tree_sha: Union[str, Tree]) -> 'IndexFile':
         """ Merge the given treeish revisions into a new index which is returned.
         This method behaves like git-read-tree --aggressive when doing the merge.
 
 
@@ -11,13 +11,10 @@
 
 # typing ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-from typing import (Any, Callable, List, Sequence, TYPE_CHECKING, Tuple, cast)
+from typing import (Any, Callable)
 
 from git.types import PathLike
 
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from git.repo import Repo
-
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@ def from_line(cls, line):
                              " Got %s" % repr(line))
         # END handle first split
 
-        oldhexsha = info[:40]
-        newhexsha = info[41:81]
+        oldhexsha = info[:40]  # type: str
+        newhexsha = info[41:81]   # type: str
         for hexsha in (oldhexsha, newhexsha):
             if not cls._re_hexsha_only.match(hexsha):
                 raise ValueError("Invalid hexsha: %r" % (hexsha,))
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 # Typing ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-from typing import AnyStr, Union, Optional, cast, TYPE_CHECKING
+from typing import Union, Optional, cast, TYPE_CHECKING
 from git.types import PathLike
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from .base import Repo
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ def find_submodule_git_dir(d: PathLike) -> Optional[PathLike]:
     return None
 
 
-def short_to_long(odb: 'GitCmdObjectDB', hexsha: AnyStr) -> Optional[bytes]:
+def short_to_long(odb: 'GitCmdObjectDB', hexsha: str) -> Optional[bytes]:
     """:return: long hexadecimal sha1 from the given less-than-40 byte hexsha
         or None if no candidate could be found.
     :param hexsha: hexsha with less than 40 byte"""
 
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from typing import (Any, AnyStr, BinaryIO, Callable, Dict, Generator, IO, Iterator, List,
                     Optional, Pattern, Sequence, Tuple, Union, cast, TYPE_CHECKING, overload)
 
+import pathlib
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from git.remote import Remote
@@ -379,7 +380,9 @@ def expand_path(p: PathLike, expand_vars: bool = ...) -> str:
     ...
 
 
-def expand_path(p: Union[None, PathLike], expand_vars: bool = True) -> Optional[str]:
+def expand_path(p: Union[None, PathLike], expand_vars: bool = True) -> Optional[PathLike]:
+    if isinstance(p, pathlib.Path):
+        return p.resolve()
     try:
         p = osp.expanduser(p)  # type: ignore
         if expand_vars: