diff --git a/src/tm_mad/tm_common.sh b/src/tm_mad/tm_common.sh
index 605ebd6197..32628fb7b1 100644
--- a/src/tm_mad/tm_common.sh
+++ b/src/tm_mad/tm_common.sh
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ function get_vmdir
     fix_var_slashes
 }
 
+# Takes out uneeded slashes. Repeated and final directory slashes:
+# /some//path///somewhere/ -> /some/path/somewhere
 function fix_dir_slashes
 {
     dirname "$1/file" | sed -E 's/\/+/\//g'
@@ -58,7 +60,7 @@ function fix_var_slashes
 
 function fix_paths
 {
-    if [ -n "$VMDIR" ]; then
+    if [ "x$ONE_LOCAL_VAR" != "x$VMDIR" ]; then
         SRC_PATH=`fix_dir_slashes "$SRC_PATH"`
         SRC_PATH=${SRC_PATH/$VMDIR/$ONE_LOCAL_VAR}
         DST_PATH=`fix_dir_slashes "$DST_PATH"`
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ function fix_paths
 
 function fix_src_path
 {
-    if [ -n "$VMDIR" ]; then
+    if [ "x$ONE_LOCAL_VAR" != "x$VMDIR" ]; then
         SRC_PATH=`fix_dir_slashes "$SRC_PATH"`
         SRC_PATH=${SRC_PATH/$VMDIR/$ONE_LOCAL_VAR}
     fi
@@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ function fix_src_path
 
 function fix_dst_path
 {
-    if [ -n "$VMDIR" ]; then
+    if [ "x$ONE_LOCAL_VAR" != "x$VMDIR" ]; then
         DST_PATH=`fix_dir_slashes "$DST_PATH"`
         DST_PATH=${DST_PATH/$VMDIR/$ONE_LOCAL_VAR}
     fi