diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index c7119f1..140bcfc 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.0.289
+1.0.290
diff --git a/sky130/magic/sky130.magicrc b/sky130/magic/sky130.magicrc
index a500a73..b2cde20 100644
--- a/sky130/magic/sky130.magicrc
+++ b/sky130/magic/sky130.magicrc
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@
 ext2spice scale off
 
 # Allow override of PDK path from environment variable PDK_ROOT
-if {[catch {set PDK_ROOT $env(PDK_ROOT)}]} {
+# "file nativename" guards against a local PDK_ROOT with "~" in the name
+if {[catch {set PDK_ROOT [file nativename $env(PDK_ROOT)]}]} {
     set PDK_ROOT STAGING_PATH
 }