my $linkcount=50;
  (my $file=$0)=~s/.*\///;
  (my $HOME=$0)=~s/[^\/]*$//; $HOME||=`pwd`."/"; $HOME=~s/[\r\n]//g;
  while (defined(my $l=readlink($HOME.$file))) {
    if ($linkcount--<0) {die("$0: symlink loop detected, dying\n");}
    ($file=$l)=~s/.*\///;
    if (substr($l,0,1) eq "/") {($HOME=$l)=~s/[^\/]*$//;next;}
    (my $npwd=$l)=~s/[^\/]*$//; $HOME.=$npwd;
  };
  print "The home directory for this program is $HOME\n";