I don't mean to say they must be unquoted in the sense that it's a rule, I mean that the programs that I'm trying to compile (not written by me) seem to be using unquoted variables, causing $HOME to be split.
This seems to be a common problem with many different programs from different authors, but, for example, I was attempting to install the program FFTW (a fourier transform library). Here's what I did (following the install instructions):

Code:

[fftw-3.3]$ ./configure
...lots of code with no errors...
[fftw-3.3]$ make
...lots of compile code...
./libtool: line 3168: cd: /Volumes/Macintosh: No such file or directory
...a few more lines of code...
make[2]: *** [libfftw3.la] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2
[fftw-3.3]$

Again, this is just an example and similar output is seen for multiple programs.

I'm not quite sure how I would use the symlink though. Would it be something as simple as

Code:

ln -s "/Volumes/Macintosh" "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/"

I don't know what would happen if the program is simply using $HOME as the start of the path to another directory. In other words, assuming the above symlink is in place, if I type

Code:

cd $HOME

the computer sees

Code:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh

which with the above symlink should be read as

Code:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh HD/

correct?

However if I type

Code:

cd $HOME/path/to/directory/

would the computer see

Code:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh/path/to/directory/

(not what I want)
or

Code:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh HD/path/to/directory/

(what I want)

Thanks for all your help!