diff --git a/fs/vfs/kern_descrip.cc b/fs/vfs/kern_descrip.cc
index 28b03aa3176e33590ae521aa75b72684cfec7f69..6983bcf6eb85b88ceb293b92ec41ac9d0fff42e7 100644
--- a/fs/vfs/kern_descrip.cc
+++ b/fs/vfs/kern_descrip.cc
@@ -152,14 +152,15 @@ int fget(int fd, struct file **out_fp)
     return 0;
 }
 
-static void finit(struct file *fp, unsigned flags, filetype_t type, void *opaque,
-        struct fileops *ops)
+file::file(unsigned flags, filetype_t type, void *opaque,
+           struct fileops *ops)
+    : f_flags(flags)
+    , f_count(1)
+    , f_ops(ops)
+    , f_data(opaque)
+    , f_type(type)
 {
-    fp->f_flags = flags;
-    fp->f_type = type;
-    fp->f_data = opaque;
-    fp->f_ops = ops;
-    fp->f_count = 1;
+    auto fp = this;
     TAILQ_INIT(&fp->f_poll_list);
 
     fo_init(fp);
@@ -168,11 +169,10 @@ static void finit(struct file *fp, unsigned flags, filetype_t type, void *opaque
 fileref make_file(unsigned flags, filetype_t type, void *opaque,
         struct fileops *ops)
 {
-    file* fp = new (std::nothrow) file;
+    file* fp = new (std::nothrow) file(flags, type, opaque, ops);
     if (!fp) {
         throw ENOMEM;
     }
-    finit(fp, flags, type, opaque, ops);
     return fileref(fp, false);
 }
 
diff --git a/include/osv/file.h b/include/osv/file.h
index 38ec0cf97c397fe2c5862d500e182a808c17f922..7e7a9cc62ca5fa14bde7911c4621d62a98e82be4 100755
--- a/include/osv/file.h
+++ b/include/osv/file.h
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ struct file;
  * File structure
  */
 struct file {
+	file(unsigned flags, filetype_t type, void *opaque,
+		struct fileops *ops);
 	~file();
 	void operator delete(void *p) { osv::rcu_dispose(p); }
 	int		f_flags;	/* open flags */