>>   Also unclear in the advisory is that 1.4_ALPHA only panics if you try
>> linking your current directory.  If you do the same thing (+ ls) but link 
>> a different directory, it too hangs.
>
>You're right that the advisory was unclear, but it's not "a different
>directory" which is the problem, but if the text of the symlink starts
>with a "/" or not.
>
>Say you're in /tmp/a, and /tmp/b exists.
>
>ln -s ../b/ foo
>ln -s ../b/ foo
>
>will give  the locking panic.
>
>ln -s /tmp/b/ foo
>ln -s /tmp/b/ foo
>
>will hang whenever you do something like an ls.
>...

it "sounds" to me (rather admittedly in the dark about things like
this) that like this is small *class* of problems that have only been
touched on.

my aforementioned 1.3.2 machine would panic every single time i did
it.  whether with the set given in the actual advisory or with the set
i first heard about (ln -s . foo ; ln -s ./ foo (iirc)).

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