Fix a buggy samples_dir path construction when HOME contains a remote path

[tramora]

Fixes #528

---

TODO Before Asking for a Review

• Rebase your branch to the latest version of dev (or main for release PRs)
• Make sure all CI workflows are green
• When adding a public feature/fix: Update the Unreleased section of CHANGELOG.md (no date)
• Self-Review: Review "Files Changed" tab and fix any problems you find
• API Docs (only if there are changes in docstrings, rst files or samples):
  • Check the docs build without warning: see the log of the API Docs workflow
  • Check that your changes render well in HTML: download the API Docs artifact and open index.html
  • If there are any problems it is faster to iterate by building locally the API Docs

[popescu-v]

See the comments; expecially:

• use fs
• update test.

[popescu-v]

A couple of minor issues (see the comments).

[popescu-v]

Pandas 3.0 is out since January 21st, 2026 and contains breaking changes. Hence, it is automatically installed and entails failures in the CI.

Hence, we need to put upper bound at 2.3 on Pandas in pyproject.toml and packaging/conda/meta.yaml.

[tramora]

Pandas 3.0 is out since January 21st, 2026 and contains breaking changes. Hence, it is automatically installed and entails failures in the CI.

Hence, we need to put upper bound at 2.3 on Pandas in pyproject.toml and packaging/conda/meta.yaml.

This was fixed and the CI turned green

[popescu-v]

I'd leave this out of the CHANGELOG, because it is a transient problem.

[tramora]

Done

[popescu-v]

Minor change to the changelog (see the comment).

[popescu-v]

LGTM