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From: cc1@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Putting devices in the filename space
Message-ID: <8365@shemp.UCLA.EDU>
Date: Mon, 28-Sep-87 00:04:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: shemp.8365
Posted: Mon Sep 28 00:04:41 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 29-Sep-87 01:39:35 EDT
References: <503@louie.udel.EDU> <1929@umd5.umd.edu> <775@sugar.UUCP> <5176@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <805@sugar.UUCP> <5218@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
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Reply-To: cc1@CS.UCLA.EDU (Michael Gersten)
Organization: Ucla Computer Club (disclaimer)
Lines: 22

Don't hit 'n' yet :-)

On unix's "" == current dir: 
I was BITTEN, badly by this bug once. On V7, I ran a set-uid program as
root (set-uid ignored), and got to a place where it unlink()'d a file,
name of file was a name given earlier. I had hit enter (I was testing
to see how well it worked for boundary cases). Imagine my suprise when
it couldn't find the directory again.

Incidently, on system 3/5, "" is NOT current dir, its an error. No such
file or directory, I believe (Don't ask me to create a "" entry).

And yes, a////b does work correctly. I think this is the most uniform
way of having a file system--the invariant is that you can always add "/"
to a file to check for a directory, and you can always add "/file" to a
directory to make a path.

Now, why does this cause device drivers trouble? (I haven't written one
yet)
			Michael
   The opinions represented here are a result of being educated at a
school that discriminates againts roosters. Only the birds are responsible.