static int link_path_walk(const char *name, struct nameidata *nd)
{
	struct path next;
	struct inode *inode;
	int err;
	unsigned int lookup_flags = nd->flags;
	
	while (*name=='/')
		name++;
	if (!*name)
		goto return_reval;

	inode = nd->path.dentry->d_inode;
	if (nd->depth)
		lookup_flags = LOOKUP_FOLLOW | (nd->flags & LOOKUP_CONTINUE);

	/* At this point we know we have a real path component. */
	for(;;) {
		unsigned long hash;
		struct qstr this;
		unsigned int c;

		nd->flags |= LOOKUP_CONTINUE;
		err = exec_permission(inode);
 		if (err)
			break;

		this.name = name;
		c = *(const unsigned char *)name;

		hash = init_name_hash();
		do {
			name++;
			hash = partial_name_hash(c, hash);
			c = *(const unsigned char *)name;
		} while (c && (c != '/'));
		this.len = name - (const char *) this.name;
		this.hash = end_name_hash(hash);

		/* remove trailing slashes? */
		if (!c)
			goto last_component;
		while (*++name == '/');
		if (!*name)
			goto last_with_slashes;

		/*
		 * "." and ".." are special - ".." especially so because it has
		 * to be able to know about the current root directory and
		 * parent relationships.
		 */
		if (this.name[0] == '.') switch (this.len) {
			default:
				break;
			case 2:	
				if (this.name[1] != '.')
					break;
				follow_dotdot(nd);
				inode = nd->path.dentry->d_inode;
				/* fallthrough */
			case 1:
				continue;
		}
		/* This does the actual lookups.. */
		err = do_lookup(nd, &this, &next);
		if (err)
			break;

		err = -ENOENT;
		inode = next.dentry->d_inode;
		if (!inode)
			goto out_dput;

		if (inode->i_op->follow_link) {
			err = do_follow_link(&next, nd);
			if (err)
				goto return_err;
			err = -ENOENT;
			inode = nd->path.dentry->d_inode;
			if (!inode)
				break;
		} else
			path_to_nameidata(&next, nd);
		err = -ENOTDIR; 
		if (!inode->i_op->lookup)
			break;
		continue;
		/* here ends the main loop */

last_with_slashes:
		lookup_flags |= LOOKUP_FOLLOW | LOOKUP_DIRECTORY;
last_component:
		/* Clear LOOKUP_CONTINUE iff it was previously unset */
		nd->flags &= lookup_flags | ~LOOKUP_CONTINUE;
		if (lookup_flags & LOOKUP_PARENT)
			goto lookup_parent;
		if (this.name[0] == '.') switch (this.len) {
			default:
				break;
			case 2:	
				if (this.name[1] != '.')
					break;
				follow_dotdot(nd);
				inode = nd->path.dentry->d_inode;
				/* fallthrough */
			case 1:
				goto return_reval;
		}
		err = do_lookup(nd, &this, &next);
		if (err)
			break;
		inode = next.dentry->d_inode;
		if ((lookup_flags & LOOKUP_FOLLOW)
		    && inode && inode->i_op->follow_link) {
			err = do_follow_link(&next, nd);
			if (err)
				goto return_err;
			inode = nd->path.dentry->d_inode;
		} else
			path_to_nameidata(&next, nd);
		err = -ENOENT;
		if (!inode)
			break;
		if (lookup_flags & LOOKUP_DIRECTORY) {
			err = -ENOTDIR; 
			if (!inode->i_op->lookup)
				break;
		}
		goto return_base;
lookup_parent:
		nd->last = this;
		nd->last_type = LAST_NORM;
		if (this.name[0] != '.')
			goto return_base;
		if (this.len == 1)
			nd->last_type = LAST_DOT;
		else if (this.len == 2 && this.name[1] == '.')
			nd->last_type = LAST_DOTDOT;
		else
			goto return_base;
return_reval:
		/*
		 * We bypassed the ordinary revalidation routines.
		 * We may need to check the cached dentry for staleness.
		 */
		if (nd->path.dentry && nd->path.dentry->d_sb &&
		    (nd->path.dentry->d_sb->s_type->fs_flags & FS_REVAL_DOT)) {
			err = -ESTALE;
			/* Note: we do not d_invalidate() */
			if (!nd->path.dentry->d_op->d_revalidate(
					nd->path.dentry, nd))
				break;
		}
return_base:
		return 0;
out_dput:
		path_put_conditional(&next, nd);
		break;
	}
	path_put(&nd->path);
return_err:
	return err;
}