ath5k_hw_register_timeout(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 ath5k_hw_register_timeout — the manual page, but make it make sense ✨

okay so bestie, this is a page from the Kernel API Manual and tbh it's lowkey one of those tiny helper functions that carries the whole driver on its back. no cap. let's get into it 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

ath5k_hw_register_timeout — literally polls a register until a flag or a field changes, and yes she's iconic for it 💖

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int ath5k_hw_register_timeout (struct ath5k_hw *ah , u32 reg , u32 flag
, u32 val , bool is_set );

that's the whole signature, keep it exactly like that, don't come for me about the spacing, it's the original's vibe 😭

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • ah — the struct ath5k_hw, AKA the main character of this whole situation 👑
  • reg — the register we're gonna read, like we're checking her story 👀
  • flag — the flag / field on that register that we're checking on
  • val — the field value we expect, but only if we're checking a field (iykyk) 💅
  • is_set — plot twist mode: instead of checking whether the flag got cleared, check whether it got set 🌀

⭐ DESCRIPTION ⭐

so here's the tea 🍓 some registers have flags in them that mean "hey, an operation is running right now". we use this function to poll those registers and check if those flags get cleared. and we also use it to poll a register field (you know, the kind that holds multiple flags at once) until it hits a specific value we're waiting on. it's giving patient bestie energy fr fr ✨

returns -EAGAIN if we exceeded AR5K_TUNE_REGISTER_TIMEOUT * 15us, or 0 🌈

ngl, that timeout is the whole vibe check — blow past it and you get -EAGAIN, simple as that 💀

🌼 SEE ALSO 🌼

go read all of them, they're all in the same friend group, obsessed 💜

and that's the page!! shoutout to ./drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k for housing all this, dated October 2026, filed under ath5k_hw_register_timeout(9) — mwah, slay, periodt 💅🎀

📦 where this page comes from