nonstandard .. and . entries - (nf)

[Barry Shein]

>2)      If the operating system silently implies these standard
>	relations, why not drop the explicit '..' and '.' entries
>	altogether and consequently forbid (ignore for the sake of
>	compability) linking and unlinking of such entries?

>	Johannes Heuft

You still have to store the per-directory inode numbers for . and ..
somewhere, the directory seems as good a place as any, at least it's
orthogonal. I think all you've discovered is that a super-user can
mess up a file system without a great deal of effort, not a design
weakness, now go play with clri and tell us your impressions (just
joking.) I prefer to think I can get at these or any entries in a
straightforward manner if needed (I've salvaged a directory or two in
my life by re-linking a sensible . and/or .. to it.) Root can do
anything, the best you can do is perhaps make it more complicated
by obscuring things.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University