balloon_page_list_dequeue(9)

💖 balloon_page_list_dequeue 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the balloon_page_list_dequeue(9) page — it's a kernel API manual entry, and yes the manual name is literally balloon_page_list_dequeue(9) because that's just how these things roll. buckle up, this one's a group project between your driver and the balloon driver 🎈

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

size_t balloon_page_list_dequeue (struct balloon_dev_info *b_dev_info ,
struct list_head *pages , size_t n_req_pages );

like look at that signature, it's giving "three args and a dream" 🫶

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• b_dev_info — the balloon device descriptor, aka the spot we're gonna grab a page from 💅
• pages — pointer to the list of pages that would be returned to the caller. that's the lil handoff basket 🧺
• n_req_pages — the number of requested pages. how many do you want? say it with your chest ✨

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the vibe: the driver must call this function to properly de-allocate a previous enlisted balloon pages before definitively releasing it back to the guest system. not optional, not "ehh maybe later" — must, fr fr.

this function tries to remove n_req_pages from the ballooned pages and return them to the caller in the pages list. it tries. it's doing its best 😭

bestie, heads up: this function may fail to dequeue some pages even if the balloon isn't empty — because the page list can be temporarily empty due to compaction of isolated pages. so if you get fewer pages than you asked for, it's not personal, it's compaction 💀

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👑 RETURN 👑

the number of pages that were added to the pages list. that's it, that's the number, count 'em 🌈

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

kernel file ./mm/balloon.c plus the whole friend group: balloon_page_insert(9), balloon_page_finalize(9), balloon_page_list_enqueue(9), balloon_page_alloc(9), balloon_page_enqueue(9), balloon_page_dequeue(9) — iykyk 💜

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and that's the page, bestie!! this lil icon lives in ./mm, and the manual itself is dated October 2026 — so yeah, ✨ from the future, slay ✨. see you in the next man page 🎀💖🌟