problems with embedded spaces in file paths (Win32)

[George White <aa056@chebucto.ns.ca>]

I don't normally use Win32, but I want to convert our 4AllTeX addicts to
TeX Live 2003.  In testing release candidates, I encountered a few
problems with context and texexec.  The most recent tests were with the
Sept. 5 release candidate (using the "install" CD). 

1.  on Win32, kpsewhich often fails to find texexec.ini.  I created a
texexec.ini in texmf-var/context/config and verified that it is listed in
the ls-R. My conjecture is that this failure occurs if and only if the
final component of the nme of the current working directory contains an
embedded space, e.g., "C:\My Documents".  Texexec takes a very long time
to run (searching the texmf trees on an unloved and unwanted PIII 300mhz),
so I haven't done a lot of testing/debugging.  I haven't encountered any
other kpathsea failures.  I can work around this by tweaking texexec.pl,
but it would be comforting to have an explanation.

2.  ConTeXt texexec uses $ENV{"HOME"} to set a value in filename.tmp, 
e.g., on unix:

$ cat try.tex 
\starttext 
\input story 
\stoptext 
$ texexec try 
$ cat try.tmp 
% try.top 
\unprotect 
\setupsystem[\c!gebied={/user/gwhite/}]  %---- set from $ENV{"HOME"}
\setupsystem[\c!n=1] 
\setupsystem[inputfile=try.tex] 
\protect

If, e.g. HOME="/x y", the formatted document gets an extra page containing
"y//cont-err". 

On Win32, it seems common to have spaces in "%HOME%".  In particular, for
WinXP, a value appears to be constructed by the texexec.ini binary
(created using irun) if %HOME% is not set.  I can work around this by
asking users to explicitly set HOME to something safe.

--
George White <aa056@chebucto.ns.ca> <gnw3@acm.org>
189 Parklea Dr., Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia  B3Z 2G6