/**
     * Force a path to exist
     *
     * Works it's way backwards up a path looking for a successful isdir().
     * By starting at the bottom and working up we hope to avoid bumping into
     * the safe_mode jail. 3rd parameter for mkdir() requires PHP >= 5.0.0
     *
     * @see http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/1716/
     * @see http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/1499/
     * @access public
     * @param string $path path to create
     * @param int $chmod file permissions of created path, defaults to 0777, octal
     * @return bool true on success, false on failure
     */
    function force_mkdir($path, $chmod = 0777)
    {
        /* force path to use / not \ */
        $path = str_replace('\\', '/', $path);
        /* split path into parts */
        $path = explode('/', $path);

        /* work $i backwards up the path */
        for ($i = sizeof ($path) - 1; $i > 0; $i--)
        {
            /* break path into two parts at $i */
            $pathA = implode ("/",array_slice ($path, 0, $i));
            $pathB = implode ("/",array_slice ($path, $i, sizeof($path)-$i));

            /* if first half of path is a directory */
            if (is_dir ($pathA))
            {
                /* at this point we're within the safe_mode jail */
                $here = getcwd();
                chdir ($pathA);
                mkdir ($pathB, $chmod, true);
                chdir ($here);
                return (true);
            }
        }
        return (false);
    } // force_mkdir()