def intake_path_dirs(path):
    """Return a list of directories from the intake path.

    If a string, perhaps taken from an environment variable, then the
    list of paths will be split on the character ":" for posix of ";" for
    windows. Protocol indicators ("protocol://") will be ignored.
    """
    if isinstance(path, (list, tuple)):
        return path
    import re
    pattern = re.compile(";" if os.name == 'nt' else r"(?<!:):(?![:/])")
    return pattern.split(path)