--- a/scripts/ChangeLog	Thu Jan 17 08:14:32 2008 +0000
+++ b/scripts/ChangeLog	Thu Jan 17 08:46:54 2008 +0000
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 2008-01-17  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
+	* path/savepath.m: Print newline before initial comment line.
+	Double up single quote characters.
+	* path/__extractpath__.m: Return just the path as a string.
+	Undo single quote character doubling.
+
+	* path/pathdef.m: Avoid eval.  Simplify.
+
 	* path/pathdef.m: Use fullfile instead of concatenating with filesep.
 	* path/__extractpath__.m, path/savepath.m: Use unwind_protect to
 	avoid possible file descriptor leak.

--- a/scripts/path/__extractpath__.m	Thu Jan 17 08:14:32 2008 +0000
+++ b/scripts/path/__extractpath__.m	Thu Jan 17 08:46:54 2008 +0000
@@ -82,10 +82,13 @@
   ## Extract the path specifiation.
   if (startline > endline || (startline > 0 && endline == 0))
     error ("savepath: unable to parse file, %s", savefile);
-  elseif startline > 0
-    specifiedpath = filelines(startline:endline);
+  elseif (startline > 0)
+    ## Undo doubling of single quote characters performed by savepath.
+    specifiedpath = strrep (regexprep (strcat (filelines(startline:endline){:}),
+				       " *path *\\('(.*)'\\); *", "$1"),
+			    "''", "'");
   else
-    specifiedpath = {};
+    specifiedpath = "";
   endif
 
 endfunction  

--- a/scripts/path/pathdef.m	Thu Jan 17 08:14:32 2008 +0000
+++ b/scripts/path/pathdef.m	Thu Jan 17 08:46:54 2008 +0000
@@ -32,63 +32,30 @@
 
 function val = pathdef ()
 
-  ## Use Octave's orignal path as the default default.
-  val = __pathorig__ ();
-
   ## Locate the site octaverc file.
   pathdir = octave_config_info ("localstartupfiledir");
   site_octaverc = fullfile (pathdir, "octaverc");
 
-  ## locate the user ~\.octaverc file.
+  ## Locate the user ~\.octaverc file.
   user_octaverc = fullfile ("~", ".octaverc");
 
   ## Extract the specified paths from the site and user octaverc"s.
-  site_pathscript = __extractpath__ (site_octaverc);
+  site_path = __extractpath__ (site_octaverc);
   if (exist (user_octaverc, "file"))
-    user_pathscript = __extractpath__ (user_octaverc);
+    user_path = __extractpath__ (user_octaverc);
   else
-    user_pathscript = "";
+    user_path = "";
   endif
 
   ## A path definition in the user octaverc has precedence over the
   ## site.
 
-  ## FIXME -- use a subfunction here to avoid code duplication?
-
-  if (numel (user_pathscript))
-    try
-      if (numel (user_pathscript) == 1)
-        n = strfind (user_pathscript{1}, "'");
-        if (numel(n) == 1)
-          n = strfind (user_pathscript{1}, "\"");
-        endif
-        val = user_pathscript{1}(n(1):n(end));
-      else
-        presentpath = path;
-        eval (user_pathscript);
-        val = path;
-        path (presentpath);
-      endif
-    catch
-      warning ("pathdef: invalid path found in `%s'", user_octaverc);
-    end_try_catch
-  elseif (numel (site_pathscript))
-    try
-      if (numel (site_pathscript) == 1)
-        n = strfind (site_pathscript{1}, "'");
-        if (numel(n) == 1)
-          n = strfind (site_pathscript{1}, "\"");
-        endif
-        val = site_pathscript{1}(n(1):n(end));
-      else
-        presentpath = path;
-        eval (site_pathscript);
-        val = path;
-        path (presentpath);
-      endif
-    catch
-      warning ("pathdef: invalid path found in `%s'", site_octaverc);
-    end_try_catch
+  if (! isempty (user_path))
+    val = user_path;
+  elseif (! isempty (site_path))
+    val = site_path;
+  else
+    val = __pathorig__ ();
   endif
 
 endfunction

--- a/scripts/path/savepath.m	Thu Jan 17 08:14:32 2008 +0000
+++ b/scripts/path/savepath.m	Thu Jan 17 08:46:54 2008 +0000
@@ -113,9 +113,10 @@
     endfor
 
     ## Use single quotes for PATH argument to avoid string escape
-    ## processing.
-    fprintf (fid, "%s\n  path ('%s');\n%s\n",
-	     beginstring, path (), endstring);
+    ## processing.  Since we are using single quotes around the arg,
+    ## double any single quote characters found in the string.
+    fprintf (fid, "\n%s\n  path ('%s');\n%s\n",
+	     beginstring, strrep (path (), "'", "''"), endstring);
 
     for i = 1:length (post)
       fprintf (fid, "%s\n", post{i});