diff --git a/distroless/private/flatten.sh b/distroless/private/flatten.sh
index 25b6762..fd96b99 100755
--- a/distroless/private/flatten.sh
+++ b/distroless/private/flatten.sh
@@ -35,12 +35,13 @@ if [[ "$deduplicate" == "True" ]]; then
     # number of occurrences of each path, and the second pass determines whether each entry is the final (or only)
     # occurrence of that path.
 
-    $bsdtar --confirmation "$@" 2< <("${awk}" '
+    $bsdtar --confirmation -P -s ',^\([^/.]\),./\1,' "$@" 2< <("${awk}" '
     function normalize(p) {
-        # Strip leading "./" and trailing "/" so that "./etc/" and "etc/" are treated as the same path.
-        sub(/^\.\//, "", p)
-        sub(/\/$/, "", p)
-        return p
+        if (p == "") return "/"
+        if (p ~ /^(\/|\.\/)/) {
+            return p
+        }
+        return "./" p
     }
     {
         key = normalize($1)
diff --git a/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel b/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
index a4dbfca..838e9ba 100644
--- a/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/examples/flatten/BUILD.bazel
@@ -112,12 +112,12 @@ assert_tar_listing(
     name = "test_flatten_dedup_listing",
     actual = "flatten_dedup",
     expected = """\
-examples/
-examples/flatten/
-examples/flatten/dir/
-examples/flatten/dir/changelog
-examples/flatten/dir/sub/
-examples/flatten/dir/sub/content.txt
+./examples/
+./examples/flatten/
+./examples/flatten/dir/
+./examples/flatten/dir/changelog
+./examples/flatten/dir/sub/
+./examples/flatten/dir/sub/content.txt
 """,
 )
 
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@ tar(
     name = "dotslash_tar",
     compress = "gzip",
     mtree = [
-        "./etc/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
-        "./etc/sub/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
+        "./top/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
+        "./top/sub/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -137,17 +137,28 @@ tar(
     name = "nodotslash_tar",
     compress = "gzip",
     mtree = [
-        "etc/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
-        "etc/sub/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
+        "top/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
+        "top/sub/ type=dir uid=0 gid=0 mode=0755 time=0.0",
     ],
 )
 
+genrule(
+    name = "absolute_tar_gen",
+    outs = ["absolute_tar.tar.gz"],
+    cmd = """
+mkdir -p top
+$(BSDTAR_BIN) -czf $@ -P -s ',^top,/top,' top/
+""",
+    toolchains = ["@bsd_tar_toolchains//:resolved_toolchain"],
+)
+
 flatten(
     name = "flatten_dedup_normalize",
     deduplicate = True,
     tars = [
-        ":dotslash_tar",
         ":nodotslash_tar",
+        ":dotslash_tar",
+        ":absolute_tar_gen",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -155,7 +166,28 @@ assert_tar_listing(
     name = "test_flatten_dedup_normalize",
     actual = "flatten_dedup_normalize",
     expected = """\
-etc/
-etc/sub/
+./top/
+./top/sub/
+/top/
+""",
+)
+
+flatten(
+    name = "flatten_dedup_normalize_reversed",
+    deduplicate = True,
+    tars = [
+        ":absolute_tar_gen",
+        ":dotslash_tar",
+        ":nodotslash_tar",
+    ],
+)
+
+assert_tar_listing(
+    name = "test_flatten_dedup_normalize_reversed",
+    actual = "flatten_dedup_normalize_reversed",
+    expected = """\
+/top/
+./top/
+./top/sub/
 """,
 )