bm_unlink(9)

💅 bm_unlink — like, the kernel API manual edition, bestie ✨

okay so real talk: this is bm_unlink(9) from the Kernel API Manual, and it's literally the page about yeeting a binary type handler through unlink(2). no cap, that's the whole vibe. 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int bm_unlink (struct inode *dir , struct dentry *dentry );

that's it. that's the signature. copy it exactly, don't come for me. 💅

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✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

• dir — the inode of the root directory. yes, the root directory. she's in charge. 👑
• dentry — the entry file to remove. this is the one getting unalived (affectionately). 🦋

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea, bestie: removing that entry file removes its binary type handler. periodt. it's exactly the same thing as writing -1 to it — same result, different font. 🔥

lowkey important: the status and register control files can't be removed. like, at all. don't even try it. 🙈

and the VFS calls this with the root inode lock held, which serializes it against the write-based add and remove paths. so it's all orderly and safe and nobody's stepping on anybody's toes — it's giving main character energy with a mutex. 💀

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go stalk these next, iykyk:

• Kernel file ./fs/binfmt_misc.c
• struct binfmt_misc_flag(9)
• search_binfmt_handler(9)
• get_binfmt_handler(9)
• binfmt_misc_find_interp(9)
• entry_attach_interpreter(9)
• put_binfmt_handler(9)
• current_binfmt_misc(9)
• entry_select_interpreter(9)
• entry_invocation_flags(9)
• entry_open_interpreter(9)
• build_interp_argv(9)
• i_binfmt_misc(9)
• bm_evict_inode(9)
• unlink_binfmt_handler(9)
• remove_binfmt_handler(9)
• bm_entry_add_interp(9)

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okay that's the whole page, you ate that 🫶 this one's from ./fs, dated October 2026, and it goes out to bm_unlink(9) — catch you in the next manpage, bestie 💜🧚