File Descriptors As Capabilities
Unix file descriptors behave in many ways as capabilities. They can be passed between processes across Unix domain sockets using the sendmsg system call. Note, however, that what is actually passed is a reference to an "open file description" that has mutable state (the file offset, and the file status and access flags). This complicates the secure use of file descriptors as capabilities, since when programs share access to the same open file description, they can interfere with each other's use of it by changing its offset or whether it is blocking or non-blocking, for example. In operating systems that are specifically designed as capability systems, there is very rarely any mutable state associated with a capability itself.
A Unix process' file descriptor table is an example of a C-list.
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