Re: [possible bug] kpsewhich gets confused by trailing slash

> Any search path that uses $HOME/something ends up with a
> double shash if $HOME ends with a slash. So, what you observe
> is the documented behaviour. Read about the special meaning
> of double slashes in the kpathsea manual (texdoc kpathsea or
> http://tug.org/teTeX/tetex-texmfdist/doc/programs/kpathsea.pdf).

Thanks for the explanation. I did not know that (rtfm, me thinks :).

Though the behaviour is well documented I would still consider it to
be a bug because it is unexpected behaviour from a normal user's point
of view. I as a standard user would not expect kpathsea to search
trough _all_ my directories located in $HOME just to find a config
file named ".texmf-config". This is what it did just because I had a
trailing slash attached to my $HOME var. I had to use strace in order
to find the source for my problem.

As a result I would suggest to echo an info to the command line (or
put it into the FAQ or man page) that there is a possible down side
with regard to trailing slashes and the $HOME var.

> Moral: don't use a trailing slash in $HOME (unless $HOME == / which is
> handled as a special case in kpathsea).

I know that now and it probably won't happen to me again ;)

Thanks again and keep up the brilliant work!
Thomas
--
http://krapplack.de/