[nfsv4] [RFD] How to interpret empty path components in fs_locations/fs_locations_info

[Trond Myklebust <[e-mail]>]

Hi,

An issue was raised in the fedfs concall last week concerning how to
represent the root directory in fs_locations/fs_locations_info.

As near as the group on the call could determine, there are 2 possible
representations, neither of which appear to be explicitly forbidden by
the spec:

     1. The server may specify a 'pathname4' entry with no components
     2. The server may specify a 'pathname4' with a single component of
        length 0.

The following question then arose: if we allow representations of type
2. above, then presumably we must also allow for the fact that the
server may embed zero-length components anywhere in the 'pathname4'
array. We assume that the interpretation would then be the same as a
POSIX path of the form /a/b/////c (i.e. the path should be interpreted
as equivalent to /a/b/c)?

The question we'd like to put to the list is therefore whether or not
clients should be required to deal with this, or whether the spec should
be amended to discourage (or even forbid) servers from using this kind
of representation for a path?

Cheers
  Trond