ceph_start_encoding(9)

💅 ceph_start_encoding(9) — or, "how to open an encoding block, bestie"

okay so this is ceph_start_encoding, straight out of the Kernel API Manual (yes, the kernel has a manual, and yes it's iconic). Think of this function as the opening move — the "hey bestie, we're about to encode something" announcement ✨

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

ceph_start_encoding — start encoding block. that's it. that's the whole vibe. it kicks off an encoding block, periodt.

---

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

void ceph_start_encoding (void **p , u8 struct_v , u8 struct_compat ,
       u32 struct_len );

returns void, so like… no return value, no drama, it just does the thing 🫶

---

💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• p — literally listed as -- undescribed -- in the original, and ngl I'm not gonna invent lore for it. the docs said undescribed, so undescribed it stays 😭 it's a void **, make of that what you will 🙈
• struct_v — the current (code) version of the encoding. this is the version of the code doing the encoding, iykyk 💅
• struct_compat — the oldest code version that can decode it. so like, the bottom line of backwards compatibility — the oldest reader that still gets it 👑
• struct_len — length of struct encoding. the size. the amount. the u32 of it all ✨

---

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• Kernel file ./include/linux/ceph/decode.h — go read it, it's right there 🍓
• ceph_start_decoding(9) — the matching counterpart, the decode-side bestie 💜

---

lowkey important: p genuinely has no description in the source material. don't come for me, I'm just the messenger 🌈

---

and that's the page, bestie 🎀 source is ./include/linux/ceph, dated October 2026 — mwah, slay, see u in the next block 💖✨