alloc_super(9)

💅 alloc_super(9) — like, the Kernel API Manual page, bestie ✨

okay so real talk, this is alloc_super from the (9) section of the Kernel API Manual — that's the little number up in the corner, it just means "kernel function, not a command you type in your shell" 🐚✨

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🎀 NAME 🎀

alloc_super — creates a shiny new superblock 💖

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

struct super_block * alloc_super (struct file_system_type *type , int
flags , struct user_namespace *user_ns );

that's the whole signature, no cap — three args, returns a pointer to struct super_block 🫶

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🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• type — the filesystem type that this superblock is supposed to belong to 🗂️
• flags — the mount flags, yep those flags 🚩
• user_ns — the user namespace for the super_block 👤

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so what it does: it allocates and initializes a brand new struct super_block for you — allocate, initialize, done, iconic 💅

alloc_super hands you back a pointer to the fresh new superblock, or NULL if the allocation had failed 😭 (that's your vibe check: NULL = it did not slay, it flopped).

fr fr, always check for NULL, bestie. allocation can just say no 🙈

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Kernel file ./fs/super.c — and honestly the whole superblock friend group 🫶:

• super_lock(9)
• deactivate_locked_super(9)
• deactivate_super(9)
• grab_super(9)
• retire_super(9)
• generic_shutdown_super(9)
• sget_fc(9)
• iterate_supers_type(9)
• reconfigure_super(9)
• emergency_thaw_all(9)
• get_anon_bdev(9)
• sget_dev(9)
• fs_bdev_freeze(9)
• fs_bdev_thaw(9)
• fs_bdev_file_open_by_dev(9)
• fs_bdev_file_open_by_path(9)
• fs_bdev_unregister(9)
• fs_bdev_file_release(9)
• get_tree_bdev_flags(9)
• get_tree_bdev(9)
• vfs_get_tree(9)
• sb_wait_write(9)
• freeze_super(9)
• thaw_super(9)

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and that's the page, mwah 💋 this little beauty lives over in ./fs and it was dated October 2026 — so yeah, go off, future manpage 📅✨ ily, now go allocate something responsibly 🧚💜