In e3, the database files that are installed with a module will always be installed at the location $(module_DB) (an environment variable set by require when loading a module).
In general the e3 team at ESS recommends referencing the database file paths explicitly as opposed to relying on or manipulating EPICS_DB_INCLUDE_PATH; given that there are many modules installed together, it seems you could end up loading the "wrong" one in a possibly annoying to trace way.
Similarly, if database files are located relative to the current startup command, it would be best to explicitly reference the file as
dbLoadRecords($(E3_CMD_TOP)/path/to/database.db)
so as to remove ambiguity.
The more problematic case are substitutions files: the name (and possibly full path) of the template database are inside the substitutions file, which itself could be under version control from a different shared support module...
Cheers,
~Ralph
