[Python-Dev] PEP 471 (scandir): Add a new DirEntry.inode() method?

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Sat, 14 Feb 2015 15:32:07 -0500
Ben Hoyt <benhoyt at gmail.com> wrote:
> > +1 we need to provide the inode (we shouldn't be throwing anything from the
> > underlying directory entry away when possible). But...
> >
> > I think the "or None" semantics are a bad idea.  It'd be better for this to
> > raise AttributeError on Windows so that someone can't write the most natural
> > form of code assuming that inode is valid and have it appear to work on
> > Windows when in fact it'd do the wrong thing.
> 
> +1 for inode support. I agree with the above -- it should either raise
> AttributeError on Windows if it's not going to be set ... or it should
> be more like Victor's original proposal where .inode() is a method
> that calls stat on Windows. I don't have strong feelings.

The whole point of scandir is to expose low-level system calls in a
cross-platform way. If you start raising some exceptions on some
platforms then that quality disappears.

Regards

Antoine.