aa_dfa_match_until(9)

💅 aa_dfa_match_until(9) — from the Kernel API Manual, bestie

okay so this one's a whole vibe for anyone poking at AppArmor's DFA internals ✨ the manual name for this page is literally aa_dfa_match_until, so like… that's your entry point, iykyk 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

aa_dfa_match_until — the way this one traverses @dfa until it hits an accept state or runs out of input 🦋 periodt.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

aa_state_t aa_dfa_match_until (const struct aa_dfa *dfa , aa_state_t
start , const char *str , const char **retpos );

like, that's the whole signature, nothing fnord-y about it 💖

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• dfa — the dfa we're matching str against. and yes, it's (NOT NULL) — no cap, you cannot pass a null here, she will not be slaying that 💀
• start — the state of the dfa where you're kicking the match off 👑
• str — the null terminated string of bytes you're matching against the dfa. also (NOT NULL), same energy as dfa fr fr 🫶
• retpos — gets set to the first character in str after the match OR the end of string 🌈 literally the pointer that tells you where you stopped consuming, and that's honestly so helpful

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

aa_dfa_match will match str against the dfa and return the state it finished matching in — that's the whole arc of this function, main character energy only 🌸

lowkey the best part? that final state is multi-use:

• you can use it to look up the accepting label 🏷️
• or as the start state of a continuing match 🔥 (yes bestie, chaining is a thing)

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💜 RETURN 💜

the final state reached after input is consumed — that's it, that's the return value 💅

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

Kernel file ./security/apparmor/match.c — the source itself, go read her, she ate ✨

• unpack_table(9)
• verify_table_headers(9)
• verify_dfa(9)
• dfa_free(9)
• aa_dfa_free_kref(9)
• remap_data16_to_data32(9)
• aa_dfa_unpack(9)
• aa_dfa_match_len(9)
• aa_dfa_match(9)
• aa_dfa_next(9)
• aa_dfa_matchn_until(9)
• aa_dfa_leftmatch(9)

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ngl go read match.c if you wanna know what's actually under the hood — that's where the lore lives 🙈

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that's the whole page bestie, no notes 💖 this one ships out of ./security/apparmor and the docs are dated October 2026, page name still aa_dfa_match_until(9) — mwah, go forth and match 🌟🦋💅