@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var (

 // ignore the current argument. This will still leave a command parsed, but

 // will not incorporate the arguments into the ast.

 func parseIgnore(rest string) (*Node, error) {

-	return blankNode(), nil

+	return &Node{}, nil

 }

 // used for onbuild. Could potentially be used for anything that represents a

@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ func parseSubCommand(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 // parse environment like statements. Note that this does *not* handle

 // variable interpolation, which will be handled in the evaluator.

 func parseEnv(rest string) (*Node, error) {

-	node := blankNode()

+	node := &Node{}

 	rootnode := node

 	strs := TOKEN_WHITESPACE.Split(rest, 2)

 	node.Value = strs[0]

-	node.Next = blankNode()

+	node.Next = &Node{}

 	node.Next.Value = strs[1]

 	return rootnode, nil

@@ -53,13 +53,13 @@ func parseEnv(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 // parses a whitespace-delimited set of arguments. The result is effectively a

 // linked list of string arguments.

 func parseStringsWhitespaceDelimited(rest string) (*Node, error) {

-	node := blankNode()

+	node := &Node{}

 	rootnode := node

 	prevnode := node

 	for _, str := range TOKEN_WHITESPACE.Split(rest, -1) { // use regexp

 		prevnode = node

 		node.Value = str

-		node.Next = blankNode()

+		node.Next = &Node{}

 		node = node.Next

 	}

@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func parseString(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 func parseJSON(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 	var (

 		myJson   []interface{}

-		next     = blankNode()

+		next     = &Node{}

 		orignext = next

 		prevnode = next

 	)

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func parseJSON(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 			return nil, dockerFileErrJSONNesting

 		}

 		next.Value = str.(string)

-		next.Next = blankNode()

+		next.Next = &Node{}

 		prevnode = next

 		next = next.Next

 	}

@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func parseMaybeJSON(rest string) (*Node, error) {

 		}

 	}

-	node := blankNode()

+	node := &Node{}

 	node.Value = rest

 	return node, nil

 }

@@ -59,11 +59,6 @@ func init() {

 	}

 }

-// empty node. Useful for managing structure.

-func blankNode() *Node {

-	return &Node{"", nil, []*Node{}}

-}

-

 // parse a line and return the remainder.

 func parseLine(line string) (string, *Node, error) {

 	if line = stripComments(line); line == "" {

@@ -77,7 +72,7 @@ func parseLine(line string) (string, *Node, error) {

 	cmd, args := splitCommand(line)

-	node := blankNode()

+	node := &Node{}

 	node.Value = cmd

 	sexp, err := fullDispatch(cmd, args)

@@ -96,7 +91,7 @@ func Parse(rwc io.Reader) (*Node, error) {

 	var child *Node

 	var line string

 	var err error

-	root := blankNode()

+	root := &Node{}

 	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(rwc)

 	for scanner.Scan() {