The io_uring_prep_openat2(3) function prepares an openat2 request. The submission queue entry sqe is
setup to use the directory file descriptor dfd to start opening a file described by path and using the
instructions on how to open the file given in how.
If the direct variant is used, the application must first have registered a file table using
io_uring_register_files(3) of the appropriate size. Once registered, a direct request may use any entry
in that table and is specified in file_index , as long as it is within the size of the registered table.
If the specified entry already contains a file, the file will first be removed from the table and closed.
It's consistent with the behavior of updating an existing file with io_uring_register_files_update(3).
If IORING_FILE_INDEX_ALLOC is used as the file_index for a direct open, then io_uring will allocate a
free direct descriptor in the existing table. The allocated descriptor is returned in the CQE res field
just like it would be for a non-direct open request. If no more entries are available in the direct
descriptor table, -ENFILE is returned instead.
Direct descriptors are io_uring private file descriptors. They avoid some of the overhead associated with
thread shared file tables, and can be used in any subsequent io_uring request that takes a file
descriptor. To do so, IOSQE_FIXED_FILE must be set in the SQE flags member, and the SQE fd field should
use the direct descriptor value rather than the regular file descriptor. Direct descriptors are managed
like registered files.
The directory file descriptor dfd is always a regular file descriptor.
Note that old kernels don't check the SQE file_index field, which is not a problem for liburing helpers,
but users of the raw io_uring interface need to zero SQEs to avoid unexpected behavior.
These functions prepare an async openat2(2) request. See that man page for details.