What is the future of the bits beyond bit 15 in st_mode? Currently only 16 bits are used. There are old struct stat formats which have only 16 bit st_mode fields. Is this the limiting factor?
I ask because I want to use one bit in glibc. If the future of the kernel calls for more than 16 bits in st_mode, can we agree on a bit (perhaps bit 31) to be reserved for userlevel?