Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:20:31 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:20:31 -0400 Received: from air-2.osdl.org ([65.172.181.6]:61110 "EHLO mail.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Mon, 22 Jul 2002 18:20:30 -0400 Subject: Re: Alright, I give up. What does the "i" in "inode" stand for? From: Joe DiMartino To: Rob Landley Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <200207190432.g6J4WD2366706@pimout5-int.prodigy.net> References: <200207190432.g6J4WD2366706@pimout5-int.prodigy.net> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.0.8 Date: 22 Jul 2002 15:23:12 -0700 Message-Id: <1027376592.15134.52.camel@joe2.pdx.osdl.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1030 Lines: 34 On Thu, 2002-07-18 at 15:33, Rob Landley wrote: > I've been sitting on this question for years, hoping I'd come across the > answer, and I STILL don't know what the "i" is short for. Somebody here has > got to know this. :) > Two plausible definitions: The Magic Garden Explained calls them "information nodes". A really old (1983) Byte Book called Introducing the Unix System has this to say: A file in the UNIX system is described by an object called an "i-node". We think that the name means "interior node", since the UNIX file-system is (in principle at least) a directed graph. For every file there is a single i-node that describes that file, and contains pointers to blocks that comprise that file. So, what do you _want_ it to mean? :-) - Joe DiMartino - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/