Is it possible to get filename from file descriptor ?

[Dan Bernstein]

In article <870 at gtenmc.UUCP> kumar at 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