Reading directories (was: Re: directory copying with cp; broken?)

[Henry Spencer]

In article <884 at yabbie.rmit.oz> rcodi at yabbie.rmit.oz (Ian Donaldson) writes:
>So what's the problem with disallowing opening directory special files 
>generally?

How can the directory access routines work then?

(Actually, the long-term answer is that directory reading really ought to
go via the kernel so that a standard interface to different kinds of file
systems can be provided, but just walling off the contents of directories
is not the answer just yet.)
-- 
The meek can have the Earth;    |    Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry at zoo.toronto.edu