cfg80211_ref_bss(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 cfg80211_ref_bss(9)

okay so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual — yes, that Kernel API Manual, the one your kernel-dev mutuals keep quoting — and it's about the iconic little function cfg80211_ref_bss. it's short, it's sweet, and it literally just bumps a refcount. no cap. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

cfg80211_ref_bss — reference BSS struct. that's the whole name. that's the whole vibe. she does one thing and she does it slayfully 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void cfg80211_ref_bss (struct wiphy *wiphy , struct cfg80211_bss *bss );

like… look at her. returns void, takes two pointers, zero drama. main character energy fr fr ✨ (and yes, copy it exactly like that if you're typing it out — the spacing and the trailing ); are part of the look 🫶)

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • wiphy — the struct wiphy that this BSS struct belongs to. like, whose BSS is this? this one's. it's this wiphy's. 🧚
  • bss — the struct cfg80211_bss you're about to reference. this is the actual star of the show, the one getting her refcount blessed 🙈💖

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

Increments the refcount of the given BSS struct.

that's it. that's the whole description. literally one line. she increments the refcount of the struct cfg80211_bss you handed her, and then she's done. no extra steps, no hidden behaviour, no secret side quests. just refcount go brrr 🔥

bestie please remember: if you're referencing it, somebody somewhere is eventually gonna have to unreference it. that's a whole other function's problem tho, not ours, not today 💀

part 1 done!! more coming, don't go anywhere 🦋

okay so this page is LOADED with friends 💅 like genuinely, cfg80211_ref_bss(9) does not exist in a vacuum and kernel-doc made sure you know it. Every single one of these is a real page in section 9, bestie — no cap. Let's go through the whole group chat 🫶

🌈 the whole family, in order

🎀 Actions and configuration — like, a LOT of it

🦋 Scanning and BSS list handling

  • struct cfg80211_ssid(9), struct cfg80211_scan_info(9), struct cfg80211_scan_6ghz_params(9), struct cfg80211_scan_request(9), struct cfg80211_match_set(9), struct cfg80211_sched_scan_plan(9), struct cfg80211_bss_select_adjust(9), struct cfg80211_sched_scan_request(9), enum cfg80211_signal_type(9)
  • the BSS besties (hi, that's us 💖): struct cfg80211_inform_bss(9), struct cfg80211_bss_ies(9), struct cfg80211_bss(9), ieee80211_bss_get_elem(9), ieee80211_bss_get_ie(9)
  • connect-ish stuff: struct cfg80211_auth_request(9), struct cfg80211_assoc_link(9), struct cfg80211_ml_reconf_req(9), enum cfg80211_assoc_req_flags(9), struct cfg80211_assoc_request(9), struct cfg80211_deauth_request(9), struct cfg80211_disassoc_request(9), struct cfg80211_ibss_params(9), struct cfg80211_bss_selection(9), struct cfg80211_connect_params(9), enum cfg80211_connect_params_changed(9)
  • and the power-save / pattern crowd: enum wiphy_params_flags(9), struct cfg80211_pmksa(9), struct cfg80211_pkt_pattern(9), struct cfg80211_wowlan_tcp(9), struct cfg80211_wowlan(9), struct cfg80211_coalesce_rules(9), struct cfg80211_coalesce(9), struct cfg80211_wowlan_nd_match(9), struct cfg80211_wowlan_nd_info(9), struct cfg80211_wowlan_wakeup(9), struct cfg80211_gtk_rekey_data(9), struct cfg80211_update_ft_ies_params(9), struct cfg80211_mgmt_tx_params(9), struct cfg80211_dscp_exception(9), struct cfg80211_dscp_range(9), struct cfg80211_qos_map(9)

🌸 Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) — yes it's literally spelled out like that

  • struct cfg80211_nan_band_config(9), struct cfg80211_nan_conf(9), struct cfg80211_nan_channel(9), struct cfg80211_nan_local_sched(9), struct cfg80211_nan_peer_map(9), struct cfg80211_nan_peer_sched(9), enum cfg80211_nan_conf_changes(9), struct cfg80211_nan_func_filter(9), struct cfg80211_nan_func(9)
  • then it keeps going, iconic: struct cfg80211_pmk_conf(9), struct cfg80211_external_auth_params(9), struct cfg80211_ftm_responder_stats(9), struct cfg80211_pmsr_ftm_result(9), struct cfg80211_pmsr_result(9), struct cfg80211_pmsr_ftm_request_peer(9), struct cfg80211_pmsr_request_peer(9), struct cfg80211_pmsr_request(9), struct cfg80211_update_owe_info(9), struct mgmt_frame_regs(9), struct cfg80211_ops(9)

💜 wiphy everything (this is the main character section fr fr)

✨ Utility functions

🍓 Data path helpers

🌈 Regulatory enforcement infrastructure

🧚 RFkill integration

👑 Vendor commands

💀 Test mode

🎀 the connect / notify / mgmt-tx section (biggest glow-up in the list)

note bestie: that's literally every single one, in the exact order kernel-doc spat them out 💖 nothing dropped, nothing renamed, we do not do that here 🫶

okay so the SEE ALSO list on this one is not playing around — it's giving "my mutuals" energy, like the whole squad got tagged in the group chat. every single one of them gets a shoutout, no skips, no cap. 💖

and that's the whole squad 😌 literally every single one of them tagged, nobody left on read. 💜

okay so that's the page!! 🎀 written out of ./include/net, dated October 2026, and the whole thing lives under the name cfg80211_ref_bss(9) — go be iconic with it bestie, mwah 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from