atl2_close(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 atl2_close — from the Kernel API Manual, bestie

okay so picture this: it's a manual page, it lives in the Kernel API Manual, and its whole name is atl2_close. Yes queen, we're talking about a real kernel function today. Let's go 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int atl2_close (struct net_device *netdev );

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one argument, one int return. iconic behavior honestly 🦋

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

  • netdev — the network interface device structure. like, the actual net device we're about to put to sleep. she's the main character of this function 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so first thing you need to know: this function returns 0, and that's not a typo, that's the whole point — it is not allowed to fail. periodt. no error path, no drama, just 0 💅

so here's the lore. the close entry point gets called when an interface is de-activated by the OS. and like — the hardware is still under the driver's control at this point, she hasn't been abandoned, okay? she just needs to be disabled. 😴

so what do we do? we issue a global MAC reset to stop the hardware, and then we free all the transmit and receive resources. all of them. every last one. no cap 🧹✨

like it's giving "closing up the shop" energy — lights off, MAC reset, resources returned, no loose ends. obsessed with the tidiness fr fr 🔥

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

okay bestie, here's the whole friend group, all of them live in the kernel file ./drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atlx/atl2.c — go say hi 👋

and that's the page 🎀 mwah. this little masterpiece comes to you from ./drivers/net/ethernet/atheros... and it's dated October 2026 — so yes, she's from the future, and she's still called atl2_close(9). slay 🌈⭐💜

📦 where this page comes from