faster fopen

[phd_ivo at gsbacd.uchicago.edu]

I have a set of files which never change on my harddisk. I would like
to index them, so that a program can open any of these files without
having to first read the directory entry. Is there a way I can open
files by some other obtained information (e.g. an inode?) and not
waste time with a directory access?

Which function(s) would I use to construct such an index? My Unix
version is Mach (a BSD 4.3 clone in many ways). Help is appreciated.

Thanks.

/ivo