> I've no idea where the suggestion that a trailing / should imply you
> want a directory came from.

Because everywhere else something is followed by a /, it must be a
directory.

>>> IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 requires that a pathname with a trailing slash
>>> character be treated as if it had a trailing "/." everywhere.
>> where else besides at the end of the pathname?  that is the only
>> location that matters.
> It means everywhere that a pathname is used.

Consider that "at the end of the pathname" is one of the places being
discussed and it becomes obvious that the "where else" and "location"
refer to locations within a pathname string, not locations in code
where processing takes place.

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