diff --git a/src/client/CMakeLists.txt b/src/client/CMakeLists.txt
index 4fbda13f67f20ac95592648dd2e1d0743dcc0d3b..7527ffc1789397ddb1270dc6328c211e5072ee6b 100644
--- a/src/client/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/client/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ set(PRELOAD_SRC
     preload.cpp
     preload_context.cpp
     preload_util.cpp
-    ../common/path_util.cpp
     ../common/rpc/rpc_util.cpp
     rpc/rpc_types.cpp
     rpc/forward_data.cpp
@@ -72,7 +71,6 @@ set(PRELOAD_HEADERS
     ../../include/client/syscalls/detail/syscall_info.h
     ../../include/common/cmake_configure.hpp
     ../../include/common/common_defs.hpp
-    ../../include/common/path_util.hpp
     ../../include/common/rpc/rpc_types.hpp
     ../../include/common/rpc/rpc_util.hpp
     )
@@ -81,6 +79,8 @@ set(PRELOAD_LINK_LIBRARIES
     metadata
     distributor
     env_util
+    arithmetic
+    path_util
     # external
     Syscall_intercept::Syscall_intercept
     dl
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ add_library(gkfs_intercept SHARED ${PRELOAD_SRC} ${PRELOAD_HEADERS})
 
 target_link_libraries(gkfs_intercept
   PRIVATE
-    arithmetic
     ${PRELOAD_LINK_LIBRARIES})
 
 target_include_directories(gkfs_intercept PRIVATE ${PRELOAD_INCLUDE_DIRS})
diff --git a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
index f85e8e3e5c81a48d7b31ad8bee8264721be2fb6c..65a99beec67294dcc9b9029ea071272ee25aeb90 100644
--- a/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -89,3 +89,15 @@ target_link_libraries(metadata
 if(GKFS_ENABLE_CODE_COVERAGE)
   target_code_coverage(metadata AUTO)
 endif()
+
+add_library(path_util
+  STATIC
+  )
+set_property(TARGET metadata PROPERTY POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
+
+target_sources(path_util
+  PRIVATE
+    path_util.cpp
+  PUBLIC
+    ${INCLUDE_DIR}/common/path_util.hpp
+  )
diff --git a/src/daemon/CMakeLists.txt b/src/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
index 8005ffa5deb56b6b6dcaf5e0d5d731b427348d18..608cff7b8280f54c8230a368ce234090c3fcdafa 100644
--- a/src/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ add_subdirectory(backend)
 
 set(DAEMON_SRC
     ../common/rpc/rpc_util.cpp
-    ../common/path_util.cpp
     daemon.cpp
     util.cpp
     ops/metadentry.cpp
@@ -48,7 +47,6 @@ set(DAEMON_HEADERS
     ../../include/common/common_defs.hpp
     ../../include/common/rpc/rpc_types.hpp
     ../../include/common/rpc/rpc_util.hpp
-    ../../include/common/path_util.hpp
     ../../include/daemon/daemon.hpp
     ../../include/daemon/util.hpp
     ../../include/daemon/ops/data.hpp
@@ -68,6 +66,7 @@ set(DAEMON_LINK_LIBRARIES
     env_util
     spdlog
     fmt::fmt
+    path_util
     # margo libs
     ${ABT_LIBRARIES}
     mercury
diff --git a/src/daemon/backend/data/CMakeLists.txt b/src/daemon/backend/data/CMakeLists.txt
index d88b06dc7908ab43c64f375537d32bf9fb9ff93e..e7d25c5af06310d6fd19600ae3365c445af34456 100644
--- a/src/daemon/backend/data/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/daemon/backend/data/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ target_sources(storage
     PUBLIC
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/daemon/backend/data/chunk_storage.hpp
     PRIVATE
-    ${INCLUDE_DIR}/common/path_util.hpp
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/common/common_defs.hpp
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/daemon/backend/data/file_handle.hpp
     ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/chunk_storage.cpp
@@ -58,6 +57,7 @@ target_link_libraries(storage
     PRIVATE
     spdlog
     data_module
+    path_util
     # open issue for std::filesystem https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/17834
     stdc++fs
     -ldl
diff --git a/src/daemon/backend/metadata/CMakeLists.txt b/src/daemon/backend/metadata/CMakeLists.txt
index 91451f016045981f2560571ce1f052552d5984e1..bbdf7d9eed9ab16438ee967d22b05d5c3544a290 100644
--- a/src/daemon/backend/metadata/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/daemon/backend/metadata/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ target_sources(metadata_db
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/daemon/backend/metadata/db.hpp
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/daemon/backend/exceptions.hpp
     PRIVATE
-    ${INCLUDE_DIR}/common/path_util.hpp
     ${INCLUDE_DIR}/daemon/backend/metadata/merge.hpp
     ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/merge.cpp
     ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/db.cpp
@@ -62,4 +61,5 @@ target_link_libraries(metadata_db
     metadata
     RocksDB
     spdlog
+    path_util
     )