ceph_start_decoding(9)

💅 ceph_start_decoding(9) 💅

okay bestie, so we're in the Linux kernel API manual, and today's main character is ceph_start_decoding — say hi 👋

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✨ NAME ✨

ceph_start_decoding — start decoding a block 🎀 lowkey the opening act for all your Ceph decoding era

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int ceph_start_decoding (void **p , void *end , u8 v , const char *name
, u8 *struct_v , u32 *struct_len );

like, yes, the line breaks are giving chaotic group-chat energy but that's literally how it's written, no cap 💀

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🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• p — honestly? -- undescribed -- 🙈 the manpage just did not show up for this one
• end — also -- undescribed -- 😭 we're all just doing our best out here
• v — the current version of the encoding that the code supports 🔥 so like, the version you are rocking with
• name — the name of the struct (free-form ✨ so go off, write whatever, it's vibes-based)
• struct_v — out param for the encoding version ⭐ this is where the version gets handed back to you
• struct_len — out param for the length of struct encoding 🎀 it tells you how long the struct encoding is, king behaviour

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what does it actually do? it validates the length of struct encoding 🤌 and the reason that matters is honestly iconic: once that length is checked, the unsafe ceph_decode_* variants can be used for decoding 🔥

like yes, "unsafe" is right there in the name, and no we are not going to pretend otherwise — the whole point of this function is that it does the safety check first so those unsafe decoders are being used responsibly 💅

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• Kernel file ./include/linux/ceph/decode.h — go read it fr fr
• ceph_start_encoding(9) — the sibling, the parallel-universe version, the other half of the duo 🫶

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🧚💜 this was the ./include/linux/ceph corner of the world, dated October 2026 — slay, mwah 💋✨