Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!rutgers!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd
From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.internals
Subject: Re: Is it possible to get filename from file descriptor ?
Message-ID: <13836:Sep1510:15:5390@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 15 Sep 90 10:15:53 GMT
References: <870@gtenmc.UUCP>
Organization: IR
Lines: 19

In article <870@gtenmc.UUCP> kumar@gtenmc.UUCP (S.Kumar) writes:
>     A Unix question
>     Is there a way to get the filename in UNIX given the file descriptor.
>     (in a given process)

Not reliably. A file descriptor may be associated with several different
filenames, or none at all. The filenames may be hidden inside
directories that you can't read. They may change at any time.

>     I think the crash program provides a list of inodes for the filenames
>     which the process has opened. 

Filenames can change; how do you know it's the same file as when the
process was running? A root process can search the filesystem and
(unreliably, unless the disks are unmounted) find a file with a given
inode, but that's slow and really suitable only for administrative
duties.

---Dan