diff --git a/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs.go b/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01b6942f0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package vfs
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// NewNameSpace returns a NameSpace pre-initialized with an empty
+// emulated directory mounted on the root mount point "/". This
+// allows directory traversal routines to work properly even if
+// a folder is not explicitly mounted at root by the user.
+func NewNameSpace() NameSpace {
+	ns := NameSpace{}
+	ns.Bind("/", &emptyVFS{}, "/", BindReplace)
+	return ns
+}
+
+// type emptyVFS emulates a FileSystem consisting of an empty directory
+type emptyVFS struct{}
+
+// Open implements Opener. Since emptyVFS is an empty directory, all
+// attempts to open a file should returns errors.
+func (e *emptyVFS) Open(path string) (ReadSeekCloser, error) {
+	if path == "/" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("open: / is a directory")
+	}
+	return nil, os.ErrNotExist
+}
+
+// Stat returns os.FileInfo  for an empty directory if the path is
+// is root "/" or error. os.FileInfo is implemented by emptyVFS
+func (e *emptyVFS) Stat(path string) (os.FileInfo, error) {
+	if path == "/" {
+		return e, nil
+	}
+	return nil, os.ErrNotExist
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) Lstat(path string) (os.FileInfo, error) {
+	return e.Stat(path)
+}
+
+// ReadDir returns an empty os.FileInfo slice for "/", else error.
+func (e *emptyVFS) ReadDir(path string) ([]os.FileInfo, error) {
+	if path == "/" {
+		return []os.FileInfo{}, nil
+	}
+	return nil, os.ErrNotExist
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) String() string {
+	return "emptyVFS(/)"
+}
+
+// These functions below implement os.FileInfo for the single
+// empty emulated directory.
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) Name() string {
+	return "/"
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) Size() int64 {
+	return 0
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) Mode() os.FileMode {
+	return os.ModeDir | os.ModePerm
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) ModTime() time.Time {
+	return time.Time{}
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) IsDir() bool {
+	return true
+}
+
+func (e *emptyVFS) Sys() interface{} {
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs_test.go b/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d8d72e6ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/godoc/vfs/emptyvfs_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package vfs_test
+
+import (
+	"golang.org/x/tools/godoc/vfs"
+	"golang.org/x/tools/godoc/vfs/mapfs"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestNewNameSpace(t *testing.T) {
+
+	// We will mount this filesystem under /fs1
+	mount := mapfs.New(map[string]string{"fs1file": "abcdefgh"})
+
+	// Existing process. This should give error on Stat("/")
+	t1 := vfs.NameSpace{}
+	t1.Bind("/fs1", mount, "/", vfs.BindReplace)
+
+	// using NewNameSpace. This should work fine.
+	t2 := vfs.NewNameSpace()
+	t2.Bind("/fs1", mount, "/", vfs.BindReplace)
+
+	testcases := map[string][]bool{
+		"/":            []bool{false, true},
+		"/fs1":         []bool{true, true},
+		"/fs1/fs1file": []bool{true, true},
+	}
+
+	fss := []vfs.FileSystem{t1, t2}
+
+	for j, fs := range fss {
+		for k, v := range testcases {
+			_, err := fs.Stat(k)
+			result := err == nil
+			if result != v[j] {
+				t.Errorf("fs: %d, testcase: %s, want: %v, got: %v, err: %s", j, k, v[j], result, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	fi, err := t2.Stat("/")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if fi.Name() != "/" {
+		t.Errorf("t2.Name() : want:%s got:%s", "/", fi.Name())
+	}
+
+	if !fi.ModTime().IsZero() {
+		t.Errorf("t2.Modime() : want:%v got:%v", time.Time{}, fi.ModTime())
+	}
+}
diff --git a/godoc/vfs/namespace.go b/godoc/vfs/namespace.go
index dbba20cb7c..5a31fe61ea 100644
--- a/godoc/vfs/namespace.go
+++ b/godoc/vfs/namespace.go
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ const debugNS = false
 // operate on a path beginning with old, replace that prefix (old) with new
 // and then pass that path to the FileSystem implementation fs.
 //
+// If you do not explicitly mount a FileSystem at the root mountpoint "/" of the
+// NameSpace like above, Stat("/") will return a "not found" error which could
+// break typical directory traversal routines. In such cases, use NewNameSpace()
+// to get a NameSpace pre-initialized with an emulated empty directory at root.
+//
 // Given this name space, a ReadDir of /src/pkg/code will check each prefix
 // of the path for a mount point (first /src/pkg/code, then /src/pkg, then /src,
 // then /), stopping when it finds one.  For the above example, /src/pkg/code