Why should I use fileno(stderr) instead of STDERR_FILENO

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    dim001r@gmail.com2024-04-13T22:58:45+00:00
    Dear pgsql hackers, I found a mixture of fileno(stderr) and STDERR_FILENO in PostgreSQL source code which in most cases mean the same. But I have found recently that Microsoft's fileno() _fileno() can return -2 sometimes. After some experiments I found that applications running as windows service have problems with stderr. I.e. fileno(stderr) returns -2 (negative two) in windows service mode. That causes some issues with the logging collector. Meanwhile the value of STDERR_FILENO always equals 2 and does not depend on application mode because it is a macro. I wonder if there are hidden advantages of using fileno(stderr) ?? Should I use only "fileno(stderr)" or using STDERR_FILENO is acceptable too ?? Are there cases when I should not use STDERR_FILENO ?? Sincerely, Dmitry Additional references 1. BUG #18400 2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-runtime-library/reference/fileno?view=msvc-170 Quote: "If stdout or stderr is not associated with an output stream (for example, in a Windows application without a console window), the file descriptor returned is -2. ..."