Index: s_path.c
===================================================================
--- s_path.c	(revision 9725)
+++ s_path.c	(working copy)
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@
 #include <io.h>
 #endif
 
+#ifdef MSW
+#include <windows.h>
+#endif
+
 #include <string.h>
 #include "m_pd.h"
 #include "m_imp.h"
@@ -69,6 +73,30 @@
     *to = 0;
 }
 
+/* expand env vars and ~ at the beginning of a path and make a copy to return */
+static void sys_expandpath(const char *from, char *to)
+{
+    if ((strlen(from) == 1 && from[0] == '~') || (strncmp(from,"~/", 2) == 0))
+    {
+#ifdef MSW
+        const char *home = getenv("USERPROFILE");
+#else
+        const char *home = getenv("HOME");
+#endif
+        if(home) 
+        {
+            strncpy(to, home, FILENAME_MAX - 1);
+            strncat(to, from + 1, FILENAME_MAX - strlen(from) - 2);
+        }
+    }
+    else
+        strncpy(to, from, FILENAME_MAX - 1);
+#ifdef MSW
+    char buf[FILENAME_MAX];
+    ExpandEnvironmentStrings(to, buf, FILENAME_MAX - 2);
+    strncpy(to, buf, FILENAME_MAX - 1);
+#endif    
+}
 /*******************  Utility functions used below ******************/
 
 /*!
@@ -196,9 +224,11 @@
     char *dirresult, char **nameresult, unsigned int size, int bin)
 {
     int fd;
+    char buf[FILENAME_MAX];
     if (strlen(dir) + strlen(name) + strlen(ext) + 4 > size)
         return (-1);
-    strcpy(dirresult, dir);
+    sys_expandpath(dir, buf);
+    strcpy(dirresult, buf);
     if (*dirresult && dirresult[strlen(dirresult)-1] != '/')
         strcat(dirresult, "/");
     strcat(dirresult, name);
@@ -250,9 +280,9 @@
 int sys_open_absolute(const char *name, const char* ext,
     char *dirresult, char **nameresult, unsigned int size, int bin, int *fdp)
 {
-    if (name[0] == '/' 
+    if (name[0] == '/' || name[0] == '~'
 #ifdef MSW
-        || (name[1] == ':' && name[2] == '/')
+        || name[0] == '%' || (name[1] == ':' && name[2] == '/')
 #endif
             )
     {