## POSIX compliant function to replace dirname

dirname()
{ 
    _dirname "$1" && printf "%s\n" "$_DIRNAME"
}

_dirname()
{ 
    case $1 in
      --) shift ;;
    esac
    _DIRNAME=$1;
    strip_trailing_slashes;
    case $_DIRNAME in 
        "")
            _DIRNAME='/'
	    return
        ;;
        */*)
            _DIRNAME="${_DIRNAME%/*}"
        ;;
        *)
            _DIRNAME='.'
        ;;
    esac;
    strip_trailing_slashes;
}

strip_trailing_slashes () 
{ 
    while [ "${_DIRNAME%/}" != "$_DIRNAME" ]; do
        _DIRNAME=${_DIRNAME%/};
    done
}