ENOTNAM
Linux / POSIXERRORCriticalDeviceHIGH confidence
Not a XENIX Named Type File
Production Risk
Not seen in modern Linux; XENIX compatibility layer only.
What this means
ENOTNAM (errno 118) is a XENIX compatibility error returned when a named-file operation is attempted on a file that is not a XENIX named type file. Not used in modern Linux.
Why it happens
- 1XENIX-compatibility ioctl on a non-named file (historical)
How to reproduce
XENIX named-file operation on wrong file type (historical).
trigger — this will error
trigger — this will error
// errno = ENOTNAM from XENIX compatibility code
expected output
Not a XENIX named type file (ENOTNAM)
Fix
Use POSIX file types instead
WHEN If maintaining XENIX-compatible code
Use POSIX file types instead
// XENIX named files are not used on modern Linux // Use regular files, FIFOs, or Unix sockets instead
Why this works
XENIX is obsolete; use standard POSIX file types.
Sources
Official documentation ↗
Linux Programmer Manual errno(3)
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