diff --git a/env_universal_common.cpp b/env_universal_common.cpp
index 63e303528..4d12318db 100644
--- a/env_universal_common.cpp
+++ b/env_universal_common.cpp
@@ -624,7 +624,7 @@ void env_universal_t::load_from_fd(int fd)
     ASSERT_IS_LOCKED(lock);
     assert(fd >= 0);
     /* Get the dev / inode */
-    file_id_t current_file = file_id_for_fd(fd);
+    const file_id_t current_file = file_id_for_fd(fd);
     if (current_file != last_read_file)
     {
         connection_t c(fd);
diff --git a/wildcard.cpp b/wildcard.cpp
index 2b93561b5..3ec1a8e53 100644
--- a/wildcard.cpp
+++ b/wildcard.cpp
@@ -971,7 +971,7 @@ static int wildcard_expand_internal(const wchar_t *wc,
                     // Insert a "file ID" into visited_files
                     // If the insertion fails, we've already visited this file (i.e. a symlink loop)
                     // If we're not recursive, insert anyways (in case we loop back around in a future recursive segment), but continue on; the idea being that literal path components should still work
-                    const file_id_t file_id(buf.st_dev, buf.st_ino);
+                    const file_id_t file_id = file_id_t::file_id_from_stat(&buf);
                     if (S_ISDIR(buf.st_mode) && (visited_files.insert(file_id).second || ! is_recursive))
                     {
                         new_dir.push_back(L'/');
diff --git a/wutil.cpp b/wutil.cpp
index af6de26a0..3b1bba793 100644
--- a/wutil.cpp
+++ b/wutil.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 
 typedef std::string cstring;
 
-const file_id_t kInvalidFileID = file_id_t((dev_t)(-1), (ino_t)(-1));
+const file_id_t kInvalidFileID = {-1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1};
 
 /**
    Minimum length of the internal covnersion buffers
@@ -528,14 +528,42 @@ int fish_wcstoi(const wchar_t *str, wchar_t ** endptr, int base)
     return (int)ret;
 }
 
+file_id_t file_id_t::file_id_from_stat(const struct stat *buf)
+{
+    assert(buf != NULL);
+    
+    file_id_t result = {};
+    result.device = buf->st_dev;
+    result.inode = buf->st_ino;
+    result.size = buf->st_size;
+    result.change_seconds = buf->st_ctime;
+    
+#if STAT_HAVE_NSEC
+    result.change_nanoseconds = buf->st_ctime_nsec;
+#elif defined(__APPLE__)
+    result.change_nanoseconds = buf->st_ctimespec.tv_nsec;
+#elif defined(_BSD_SOURCE) || defined(_SVID_SOURCE) || defined(_XOPEN_SOURCE)
+    result.change_nanoseconds = buf->st_ctim.tv_nsec;
+#else
+    result.change_nanoseconds = 0;
+#endif
+
+#if defined(__APPLE__) || defined(__DragonFly__) || defined(__FreeBSD__) ||  defined(__OpenBSD__) || defined(__NetBSD__)
+    result.generation = buf->st_gen;
+#else
+    result.generation = 0;
+#endif
+    return result;
+}
+
+
 file_id_t file_id_for_fd(int fd)
 {
     file_id_t result = kInvalidFileID;
     struct stat buf = {};
     if (0 == fstat(fd, &buf))
     {
-        result.first = buf.st_dev;
-        result.second = buf.st_ino;
+        result = file_id_t::file_id_from_stat(&buf);
     }
     return result;
 }
@@ -546,9 +574,50 @@ file_id_t file_id_for_path(const wcstring &path)
     struct stat buf = {};
     if (0 == wstat(path, &buf))
     {
-        result.first = buf.st_dev;
-        result.second = buf.st_ino;
+        result = file_id_t::file_id_from_stat(&buf);
     }
     return result;
 
 }
+
+bool file_id_t::operator==(const file_id_t &rhs) const
+{
+    return device == rhs.device &&
+           inode == rhs.inode &&
+           size == rhs.size &&
+           change_seconds == rhs.change_seconds &&
+           change_nanoseconds == rhs.change_nanoseconds &&
+           generation == rhs.generation;
+}
+
+bool file_id_t::operator!=(const file_id_t &rhs) const
+{
+    return ! (*this == rhs);
+}
+
+template<typename T>
+int compare(T a, T b)
+{
+    if (a < b)
+    {
+        return -1;
+    }
+    else if (a > b)
+    {
+        return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+bool file_id_t::operator<(const file_id_t &rhs) const
+{
+    /* Compare each field, stopping when we get to a non-equal field */
+    int ret = 0;
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(device, rhs.device);
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(inode, rhs.inode);
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(size, rhs.size);
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(generation, rhs.generation);
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(change_seconds, rhs.change_seconds);
+    if (! ret) ret = compare(change_nanoseconds, rhs.change_nanoseconds);
+    return ret < 0;
+}
diff --git a/wutil.h b/wutil.h
index 1b2f6f2b0..3355ab148 100644
--- a/wutil.h
+++ b/wutil.h
@@ -158,8 +158,24 @@ int wrename(const wcstring &oldName, const wcstring &newName);
 /** Like wcstol(), but fails on a value outside the range of an int */
 int fish_wcstoi(const wchar_t *str, wchar_t ** endptr, int base);
 
-/** Class for representing a file's inode. We use this to detect and avoid symlink loops, among other things. */
-typedef std::pair<dev_t, ino_t> file_id_t;
+/** Class for representing a file's inode. We use this to detect and avoid symlink loops, among other things. While an inode / dev pair is sufficient to distinguish co-existing files, Linux seems to aggressively re-use inodes, so it cannot determine if a file has been deleted (ABA problem). Therefore we include richer information. */
+struct file_id_t
+{
+    dev_t device;
+    ino_t inode;
+    uint64_t size;
+    time_t change_seconds;
+    long change_nanoseconds;
+    uint32_t generation;
+    
+    bool operator==(const file_id_t &rhs) const;
+    bool operator!=(const file_id_t &rhs) const;
+    
+    // Used to permit these as keys in std::map
+    bool operator<(const file_id_t &rhs) const;
+    
+    static file_id_t file_id_from_stat(const struct stat *buf);
+};
 
 file_id_t file_id_for_fd(int fd);
 file_id_t file_id_for_path(const wcstring &path);