>> At one time, there was no mkdir() call. You could use mknod()
>> to get one, then add the '.' and '..' entries yourself.
>> You could freely hard link and unlink directories. If you go
>> back far enough, I think you could chmod() a file into a
>> directory. Yep, turn files into directories and back again.
>
> RTFM. Nope, you couldn't. Moreover, mkdir(2) was a separate
> syscall. Yes, it didn't create '.' and '..'. That's what
> mkdir(1) did after calling mkdir(2).
RTFS. There was no mkdir(2) as of v6.
> Albert, the whole set of v1 manpages is available on the
> www.cs.bell-labs.com/~dmr, along with pretty interesting
> texts on early history. Could you consider *reading* them?
I read all that, but it was a while ago. I've the v6 source
right here though, showing that mkdir(2) does not exist.
Surely it wasn't removed between v1 and v6.
>> I suspect that the early developers thought hard links were fun.
>
> So? I quite agree with them. Fun or not, but links are quite useful.
> If the thing doesn't fit well into your idea of the world - you know
> where to find NT or VMS if you need them.
All operating systems suck.
Most operating systems would suck a bit less if they dropped some
crummy old traditions. We already ban hard links to directories.
We ought to ban a few more cases, such as links to files owned by
other users.
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