On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 04:47:45PM +0530, Kaustubh Ghosh wrote: > > Hi all, > what I want is to incorporate one extra field of information in > the inode > structure. Can anybody tell me where I will find the > definition of inode so > that I can add the extra field.What > will be the other causes of concern, and > what more functions > accessing the inodes will I need to change? The list is long. As a minimum for ext[23] filesystems will be any program that includes: /usr/include/linux/ext2_fs.h /usr/include/linux/ext3_fs.h The most important ones will be making the filesystem and repairing the fs, also mount and the kernel modules. The smallest change might as well be a big change. Do you realize that if you fiddle with the inode then it is no longer ext2/ext3 and future software installs and updates will cause things to fail, BADLY! Do not call your changed ext[23]... You might look at the mechanism that SELinux takes advantage of extended attributes in the inode for your experiment. For example ls has the flags -Z and --lcontext. $ ls --lcontext / total 339 drwxr-xr-x 6 system_u:object_r:default_t root root 4096 Apr 10 2004 b .... By taking advandage of existing extended atributes you will not break the filesystem structure and the additional data is only important when your kernel changes inspect, check, and modify your attribute. There is risk in such changes. You need at least a second spare tester machine to play with this stuff. -- T o m M i t c h e l l May your cup runneth over with goodness and mercy and may your buffers never overflow.