authorindex bug fix on Windows (API error and PATH separator)

This is from a USENET news thread. I repost it here so that it gets indexed by more search engines.

This is a summary of the bug and resolution listed in MiKTeX bug #1739147:

This bug is not limited to MiKTeX. It is a general authorindex problem that can occur on any Windows machine.


When authorindex runs on a NETWORK drive (and other times?) this error occurs:

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bibtex: Windows API error 161: The specified path is invalid.
BibTeX error. Aborting leaving all temporary files _autidx_.*
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This error is a Windows specific problem in the "authorindex" Perl script. The resolution, by Christian Schenk:

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Date: 2007-06-21 13:26
Sender: csc (Christian Schenk)
Logged In: YES
user_id=67066
Originator: NO

Thank you. The bug is in the authorindex.pl script on lines 215 and 276:
the Unix path separator (:) is used when the environment variable
BSTINPIUTS/BIBINPUTS is set. This does not work under Windows. Please
replace ".:" with ".;" on both lines.
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In MiKTeX, this script is located at:

\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.6\scripts\perl\authorindex\authorindex.pl


Eventually, authorindex will need to be modified so that ";" is used as the PATH separator for Windows and ":" in UNIX. Meanwhile, those getting the error above should manually make this change.

--Ted