diff --git a/sphinx/util/docutils.py b/sphinx/util/docutils.py
index a4c1c6709..4f085bfee 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/docutils.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/docutils.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import re
 from collections.abc import Sequence  # NoQA: TCH003
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from copy import copy
-from os import path
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import IO, TYPE_CHECKING, Any, cast
 
 import docutils
@@ -171,25 +171,23 @@ def patched_rst_get_language() -> Iterator[None]:
 
 
 @contextmanager
-def using_user_docutils_conf(confdir: str | None) -> Iterator[None]:
+def using_user_docutils_conf(confdir: str | os.PathLike[str] | None) -> Iterator[None]:
     """Let docutils know the location of ``docutils.conf`` for Sphinx."""
     try:
-        docutilsconfig = os.environ.get('DOCUTILSCONFIG', None)
+        docutils_config = os.environ.get('DOCUTILSCONFIG', None)
         if confdir:
-            os.environ['DOCUTILSCONFIG'] = path.join(
-                path.abspath(confdir), 'docutils.conf'
-            )
-
+            docutils_conf_path = Path(confdir, 'docutils.conf').resolve()
+            os.environ['DOCUTILSCONFIG'] = str(docutils_conf_path)
         yield
     finally:
-        if docutilsconfig is None:
+        if docutils_config is None:
             os.environ.pop('DOCUTILSCONFIG', None)
         else:
-            os.environ['DOCUTILSCONFIG'] = docutilsconfig
+            os.environ['DOCUTILSCONFIG'] = docutils_config
 
 
 @contextmanager
-def patch_docutils(confdir: str | None = None) -> Iterator[None]:
+def patch_docutils(confdir: str | os.PathLike[str] | None = None) -> Iterator[None]:
     """Patch to docutils temporarily."""
     with (
         patched_get_language(),
diff --git a/sphinx/util/template.py b/sphinx/util/template.py
index 6e217d617..b428d3cf7 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/template.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/template.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import os
 from functools import partial
-from os import path
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
 from jinja2 import TemplateNotFound
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 
     from jinja2.environment import Environment
 
+_TEMPLATES_PATH = Path(package_dir, 'templates')
+_LATEX_TEMPLATES_PATH = _TEMPLATES_PATH / 'latex'
+
 
 class BaseRenderer:
     def __init__(self, loader: BaseLoader | None = None) -> None:
@@ -49,11 +52,12 @@ class FileRenderer(BaseRenderer):
 
     @classmethod
     def render_from_file(
-        cls: type[FileRenderer], filename: str, context: dict[str, Any]
+        cls: type[FileRenderer],
+        filename: str | os.PathLike[str],
+        context: dict[str, Any],
     ) -> str:
-        dirname = os.path.dirname(filename)
-        basename = os.path.basename(filename)
-        return cls(dirname).render(basename, context)
+        filename = Path(filename)
+        return cls((filename.parent,)).render(filename.name, context)
 
 
 class SphinxRenderer(FileRenderer):
@@ -61,12 +65,14 @@ class SphinxRenderer(FileRenderer):
         self, template_path: Sequence[str | os.PathLike[str]] | None = None
     ) -> None:
         if template_path is None:
-            template_path = os.path.join(package_dir, 'templates')
+            template_path = (_TEMPLATES_PATH,)
         super().__init__(template_path)
 
     @classmethod
     def render_from_file(
-        cls: type[FileRenderer], filename: str, context: dict[str, Any]
+        cls: type[FileRenderer],
+        filename: str | os.PathLike[str],
+        context: dict[str, Any],
     ) -> str:
         return FileRenderer.render_from_file(filename, context)
 
@@ -78,7 +84,7 @@ class LaTeXRenderer(SphinxRenderer):
         latex_engine: str | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         if template_path is None:
-            template_path = [os.path.join(package_dir, 'templates', 'latex')]
+            template_path = (_LATEX_TEMPLATES_PATH,)
         super().__init__(template_path)
 
         # use texescape as escape filter
@@ -126,8 +132,9 @@ class SphinxTemplateLoader(BaseLoader):
         self.loaders = []
         self.sysloaders = []
 
+        conf_dir = Path(confdir)
         for templates_path in templates_paths:
-            loader = SphinxFileSystemLoader(path.join(confdir, templates_path))
+            loader = SphinxFileSystemLoader(conf_dir / templates_path)
             self.loaders.append(loader)
 
         for templates_path in system_templates_paths: