char *nthPathComponent(char *source, int n, char *buf) {
        /*
        **      returns a pointer to buf
        **      sets buf to the nth path component of source.
        **      nthPathComponent("this/path/is/cool", 2) returns "is"
        */

        if (!source || !buf) return NULL;

        int i = 0;
        char *pathItem = (char*)malloc(strlen(source));
        char *os1 = pathItem;
        char *s = source;

        for (i = 0; (i < n) && (s = index(s, kPathSeparator)); i++, *s++);

        if (!s) {
                printf("not enough path components!!!!!\n");
                free(pathItem);
                return NULL;
        }

        while (*s != kPathSeparator && (*os1++ = *s++));

        *os1++ = 0;

        strcpy(buf, pathItem);

        free(pathItem);

        return buf;
}

GCMFileEntryStruct *GCMGetNthFileEntry(FILE *ifile, int n) {
        char *rawEntry = (char*)malloc(GCM_FST_ENTRY_LENGTH);
        printf("alloc'd entry %d\n", n); //debugging...
        GCMGetNthRawFileEntry(ifile, n, rawEntry);
        GCMFileEntryStruct *entry = GCMRawFileEntryToStruct(rawEntry, n);
        free(rawEntry);

        return entry;
}

GCMFileEntryStruct *GCMGetFileEntryAtPath(FILE *ifile, char *path) {
        /*
        **  returns the file entry at path
        **  entry WILL have it's filename attribute set.
        **
        **  path must be an absolute path (ie: /this/is/the/file.raw)
        **  it must have a leading /
        */

        int curPathComponent = 1;
        int i = 0;
        int entryCount = GCMGetFileEntryCount(ifile);

        // loop through all of the file entries...
        for (i = 1; i < entryCount; i++) {
                // grab the current entry...
                GCMFileEntryStruct *e = GCMGetNthFileEntry(ifile, i);
                GCMFetchFilenameForFileEntry(ifile, e);

                if (!e) {
                        printf("an error occurred! e is NULL!\n");
                        exit(1);
                }

                // if this entry matches the next pathComponent, then....
                char *nthPC = (char*)malloc(512);
                if (strcmp(e->filename, nthPathComponent(path, curPathComponent, nthPC)) == 0) {

                        if (curPathComponent == pathComponentCount(path)) {
                                // it's the file we're looking for! return it!
                                return e;
                        } else {
                                // otherwise... let's 'cd' into that directory, and continue...
                                curPathComponent++;
                        }

                } else if (e->isDir) {
                        // it's not what we're looking for, and it's a directory, 
                        // so just skip over everything and move onto the next file...

                        i = (int)e->length - 1;
                }
                free(nthPC);

                // free our working entry so we can move on to the next one...
                GCMFreeFileEntryStruct(e);
                //free(e);
        }

        //file not found, so just return NULL...
        return NULL;
}

char *nthPathComponent(char *source, int n, char *buf) {
        /*
        **      returns a pointer to buf
        **      sets buf to the nth path component of source.
        **      nthPathComponent("this/path/is/cool", 2) returns "is"
        */

        if (!source || !buf) return NULL;

        int i = 0;
        char *pathItem = (char*)malloc(strlen(source)); 
//I would use: char *pathItem = (char*) malloc(strlen(source)+1));
        char *os1 = pathItem;
        char *s = source;

        for (i = 0; (i < n) && (s = index(s, kPathSeparator)); i++, *s++);

        if (!s) {
                printf("not enough path components!!!!!\n");
                free(pathItem);
                return NULL;
        }

//Right here you are potentially copying the full value of source into pathitem.  
        while (*s != kPathSeparator && (*os1++ = *s++));

//Now unless the above loop exitted because of a kPathSeperator, you are adding null at the first position over your allocated memory.
        *os1++ = 0;

        strcpy(buf, pathItem);

        free(pathItem);

        return buf;
}