i have a web interface file sharing application i'm developing (the files are on a per user basis, there can be 2 files that two different users can access, that is, one file may be accessed by usera, but not by userb)

i keep a table for files- file information- things like- filepath, inode, creation date, file description, etc.

Here's the kicker, I am using inode as unique row identifier- instead of an auto increment id.

Why?

• inode is already unique by the filesystem.
• people can rename the files via the filesystem- and i have a checkup cron for example, that can make sure the file names match the inodes- and update the db as needed, with new file names for existing entries in table
• a file can be queried for its inode, and that lets us know what record to look up in the table

My questions:

• I understand we must never return sensitive data to the browser- i therefore should be returning a file id number or reference code, instead of an inode number, that sounds sensitive, right?
• users select files to download, etc from a list- therefore the browser client returns to the code- inodes... how sensitive is this, am i doign something really dangerous ?

background
what the main purpose of this app is, is to let specific users download specific files. when a user requests a file via the browser by inode (instead of reference id, etc) - the code checks that a specific permission for that user to that one file exists - if a user without a permission to file x, would be turned down, kicked out, error logged

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