[latexrefman] filecontents

[Karl Berry]

    is launch with an -outputdir argument.

Yes. The -output-directory directory replaces the "current directory"
for output, when it is specified. This happens at the engine level and
cannot be overridden or altered by TeX macros.

I made some more changes to latex2e.texi in this regard. Thanks. -k

P.S. Maybe time to make another release of the French? It's been a
couple years ...