Certain arguments that are filenames require a full (not relative) path to locate the right objects. In the example above, you can see the source file requires this (where the shell in use here will expand the ~ to the user's home directory).
However, perhaps surprisingly, when I use
and the only two other times this shows up in the debugging info it still says ../src/NTIC.xml, not an expanded version. I don't believe my shell is expanding this, after a bit of experimenting.
This low-priority enhancement request is to clarify exactly when full paths are necessary for mbx.
The file currently at the author guide says