bch_init(9)

💅 bch_init(9) — like, the BCH encoder/decoder glow-up page 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to bch_init(9) from the Kernel API Manual — yes that's the manual name, we're being official today ✨ this is the function that sets up your whole BCH encoder/decoder situation, and honestly? it's giving main character energy 👑

✨ NAME ✨

bch_init — initialize a BCH encoder/decoder 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

struct bch_control * bch_init (int m , int t , unsigned int prim_poly ,
       bool swap_bits );

✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

• m — the Galois field order, and it should be in the range 5-15. periodt. don't be out here with an m of 3, that's not the vibe 🙈
• t — maximum error correction capability, in bits 💪 like how much correction you can ~handle~
• prim_poly — a primitive polynomial you provide (iconic of you tbh), or pass 0 to just use the default one 🎀
• swap_bits — swap bits within data and syndrome bytes 🔄 lowkey a whole lil personality trait

✨ RETURN ✨

a newly allocated BCH control structure if it all worked out 💖 — and NULL otherwise 😭

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so real talk: this initialization can take some time, because lookup tables get built for fast encoding/decoding 🧚 the way that it's building tables for you… but fr fr, make sure not to call this function from a time critical path. no cap, that's not the move 💀

usually, bch_init should be called on module/driver init, and bch_free should be called to release memory on exit 🫶 that's the whole lifecycle, slay.

you may provide your own primitive polynomial of degree m in the argument prim_poly, or just let bch_init use its default polynomial ✨ either way is valid, we're not judging 💅

once bch_init has successfully returned a pointer to a newly allocated BCH control structure, the ecc length in bytes is given by member ecc_bytes of the structure 🔥 that's your number, bestie, go get it 👑

🎀 lil reminder: tables = time. keep it out of the time critical path, iykyk.

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

Kernel file ./lib/bch.c, and also go read bch_encode(9), bch_decode(9), and bch_free(9) — the whole friend group 🌈⭐

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and that's the page, bestie!! 🍓 this lil gem comes from ./lib, dated October 2026 — mwah, stay iconic, and remember: init it on driver init, free it on exit 💜✨