Wouldn't this mess about /bin:/usr/bin and /lib:/usr/lib be solved by a creative use of directory mapping (or whatever that Hurd feature is called)? How does it work? Make /usr a translator... or no, / would have to be some funky fs type... I confess I don't know the details. Can there be a real /usr in which `tar' would put stuff beginning with /usr, and whose contents would appear in / behind those in the "real" / ? Gone to bed. -John