# Re: \[PATCH\] tracefs/eventfs: Use root and instance inodes as default ownership

- From: Matthew Wilcox \<willy@infradead.org\>
- Date: 2024-01-04 19:27:05 
- List: linux-trace-kernel
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/linux-trace-kernel/2024/01/270386
- Thread: https://ratatoskr.run/linux-trace-kernel/2024/01/270295/t.md

```text
On Thu, Jan 04, 2024 at 02:15:17PM -0500, Steven Rostedt wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Jan 2024 18:25:02 +0000
> Al Viro [ref] wrote:
> 
> > Unfortunately, the terms are clumsy as hell - POSIX ends up with
> > "file descriptor" (for numbers) vs. "file description" (for IO
> > channels), which is hard to distinguish when reading and just
> > as hard to distinguish when listening.  "Opened file" (as IO
> > channel) vs. "file on disc" (as collection of data that might
> > be accessed via said channels) distinction on top of that also
> > doesn't help, to put it mildly.  It's many decades too late to
> > do anything about, unfortunately.  Pity the UNIX 101 students... ;-/
> 
> Just so I understand this correctly.
> 
> "file descriptor" - is just what maps to a specific inode.

No -- file descriptor is a number in fdtable that maps to a struct file.

> "file description" - is how the file is accessed (position in the file and
> 			flags associated to how it was opened)

file description is posix's awful name for struct file.
```