linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/6] Maintain the relative size of fs.file-max and fs.nr

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Message-ID: <20241124023024.GB3874922@mit.edu>
Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2024 16:30:24 -1000
From: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@....edu>
To: Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>
Cc: Jinliang Zheng <alexjlzheng@...il.com>, brauner@...nel.org, jack@...e.cz,
        mcgrof@...nel.org, kees@...nel.org, joel.granados@...nel.org,
        adobriyan@...il.com, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, flyingpeng@...cent.com,
        Jinliang Zheng <alexjlzheng@...cent.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] Maintain the relative size of fs.file-max and
 fs.nr_open

On Sat, Nov 23, 2024 at 07:32:27PM +0000, Al Viro wrote:
> 
> 	You won't find the words 'IO channel' in POSIX, but I refuse
> to use the term they have chosen instead - 'file description'.	Yes,
> alongside with 'file descriptor', in the contexts where the distinction
> between these notions is quite important.

What I tend to do is use the term "struct file" instead.  The "file
descriptor" literally is an integer index into an array of "struct
file" pointers.

"struct file" is how things are actually implemented in Linux and most
Unix systems.  And while it's admittedly ugly to use an implementation
detail as an abstract term, it's infinitely less ugly than Posix's
"file description".  :-)

						- Ted