A suggestion: .... == ../../..

[Root Boy Jim]

   From: Tim Chase <tim at introl.uucp>

   Unfortunately, the non-beauty of many current implementations is that  "."
   and ".." are finding their way into kernel now that we have things like
   rename(2) and chroot(2).  I think the functionality of these, and other,
   new functions is worth it and may provide some precedent for things like
   the "..." suggestion.

   Maybe now that knowledge of "." and ".." is both in the file system and
   the kernel, they ought to be removed from the file system.  That would
   at least save some disk space, but would probably break programs that
   read directories.

Not so! While `.' could possibly be removed from the file system (but then
how would you remove a file called `-r'), the kernel has only partial
knowledge of `..'. All it knows is when to manipulate it in special cases,
such as mkdir, rmdir, and rename; and when to treat it specially, at
mount points, the root, and when chroot'ed. One might argue that this info
could be stored in the inode itself, and this might indeed be plausible.

   UUCP: {uunet,uwvax!uwmcsd1}!marque!introl!tim
   Phone: +1 414 276-2937

	(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell	<rbj at icst-cmr.arpa>
	National Bureau of Standards
	Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688
	The opinions expressed are solely my own
	and do not reflect NBS policy or agreement
	I'd like MY data-base JULIENNED and stir-fried!