alarm_start_timer(9)

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

okay so like, real talk: this page lives in the Kernel API Manual, and it's genuinely one of the most "short but slay" pages ever. It's literally just one function that sets an alarm to fire, and honestly? Iconic. Let's get into it ✨

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🎀 NAME

alarm_start_timer — sets an alarm to fire. that's it, that's the whole vibe 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS

bool alarm_start_timer (struct alarm *alarm , ktime_t expires , bool
relative );

look at her. one function, three args, returns a bool. she's giving minimalism, she's giving "I only need what I need" 👑

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🦋 ARGUMENTS

• alarm — pointer to the alarm you wanna set. like, the actual alarm object, not a copy, not a vibe, the pointer itself 💅
• expires — the expiry time. this is a ktime_t, so it's kernel-time coded. respect her units bestie.
• relative — true if expires is relative. so like, "an hour from now" vs "at exactly 3:47pm" — this flag is the difference between those two whole situations 😌

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🔥 RETURN

• True — the alarm was queued. mission accomplished, she's in the queue, we love to see it 🎉
• False — it already expired. yeah, it's a little anticlimactic, but at least you know 💀

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⭐ SEE ALSO

this list is LONG and honestly it's a whole friend group. every single one of them, no cap:

Kernel file ./kernel/time/alarmtimer.c struct alarm_base(9), alarmtimer_get_rtcdev(9), alarmtimer_enqueue(9), alarmtimer_dequeue(9), alarmtimer_fired(9), alarmtimer_suspend(9), alarm_init(9), alarm_try_to_cancel(9), alarm_cancel(9), clock2alarm(9), alarm_handle_timer(9), alarm_timer_rearm(9), alarm_timer_forward(9), alarm_timer_remaining(9), alarm_timer_try_to_cancel(9), alarm_timer_wait_running(9), alarm_timer_arm(9), alarm_clock_getres(9), alarm_clock_get_timespec(9), alarm_clock_get_ktime(9), alarm_timer_create(9), alarmtimer_nsleep_wakeup(9), alarmtimer_do_nsleep(9), alarm_timer_nsleep_restart(9), alarm_timer_nsleep(9), alarmtimer_init(9)

like I said. a whole friend group. go say hi to them 💖

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quick reminder bestie: False doesn't mean "bad thing happened", it means the alarm already expired. don't panic, just read the return value 🧚

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and that's the page!! mwah 💋 this lil gem comes from ./kernel/time and it's dated October 2026, and the title/footer both rep alarm_start_timer(9) — so now you know exactly where she's from and when she was last touched up. periodt 🌈👑