Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: /../... (Re: What kinds of things would you want in the GNU OS?)
Message-ID: <4486@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 10 Jun 89 02:10:28 GMT
References: <106326@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <4315@ficc.uu.net> <338@arc.UUCP> <3028@rti.UUCP>
Organization: Xenix Support
Lines: 23

In article <3028@rti.UUCP>, mcm@rti.UUCP (Mike Mitchell) writes:
> What happens if you unlink the '..' entry in the '/' directory
> and mkdir a directory called '..'?  I'll tell you what happens.  You get a
> directory called '..' accessible from '/'.  You can now chdir to '/..' and
> get to a new directory.  Put anything you want in that directory.  Put
> symbolic links pointing to NFS systems there. Put mount points for NFS there.

I love it. It's beautiful. It's clean. It's even damnit consistent. It has a
few problems, but they're minor.

> Of course, if you want to extend a local group of systems into a larger
> collection of systems, just add another '..' directory to the '/..' directory.

This is less friendly. pwd or getcwd() or whatever are gonna get
discombobulated. Too many special cases... make it like area codes, maybe:

	/../nearsystem
	/../virginia/farsystem
-- 
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.

Business: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180.
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