inodeid
Inodeid is a term used to describe the unique numeric identifier assigned to an inode within a filesystem. An inode is the on-disk data structure that stores metadata about a file or directory, including its ownership, permissions, size, timestamps, and pointers to its data blocks. The inodeid, often referred to as the inode number, serves as the primary handle the system uses to locate and access the inode's metadata.
- Uniqueness and scope: The inodeid is unique within a single filesystem, enabling the kernel to distinguish
- Lifespan: The inodeid persists for the lifetime of the inode. If a file is deleted and its
- Stability and changes: Renaming a file or moving it within the same filesystem does not typically
- Cross-filesystem references: In networked or portable references (such as certain file handles in NFS), the inodeid
- Inodeid is not portable: It is meaningful only within the specific filesystem where the inode resides.
- It is not a path: The inodeid identifies a file’s metadata location, not its human-readable name
- The inodeid points to the inode, which contains metadata about the file and the pointers to