private function _collapseStack($stack)
    {
        $result = array();
        $is_folder = false;
        for ($i = 0; isset($stack[$i]); $i++) {
            $is_folder = false;
            // absorb an internally duplicated slash
            if ($stack[$i] == '' && $i && isset($stack[$i + 1])) {
                continue;
            }
            if ($stack[$i] == '..') {
                if (!empty($result)) {
                    $segment = array_pop($result);
                    if ($segment === '' && empty($result)) {
                        // error case: attempted to back out too far:
                        // restore the leading slash
                        $result[] = '';
                    } elseif ($segment === '..') {
                        $result[] = '..'; // cannot remove .. with ..
                    }
                } else {
                    // relative path, preserve the double-dots
                    $result[] = '..';
                }
                $is_folder = true;
                continue;
            }
            if ($stack[$i] == '.') {
                // silently absorb
                $is_folder = true;
                continue;
            }
            $result[] = $stack[$i];
        }
        if ($is_folder) {
            $result[] = '';
        }
        return $result;
    }