dev_ioctl(9)

💅 dev_ioctl(9) — Kernel API Manual realness 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to the dev_ioctl(9) page from the Kernel API Manual. it's giving kernel networking, it's giving ioctl, and honestly? we're gonna get through it together. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

dev_ioctl — network device ioctl

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int dev_ioctl (struct net *net , unsigned int cmd , struct ifreq *ifr ,
       void __user *data , bool *need_copyout );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• net — the applicable net namespace
• cmd — command to issue
• ifr — pointer to a struct ifreq in user space
• data — data exchanged with userspace
• need_copyout — whether or not copy_to_user should be called

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Issue ioctl functions to devices. bestie, this is normally called by the user space syscall interfaces, but it can sometimes be useful for other purposes too. iykyk. 👑

The return value is the return from the syscall if positive, or a negative errno code on error. no cap. 😭

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./net/core/dev_ioctl.c dev_get_hwtstamp_phylib(9), dev_set_hwtstamp_phylib(9), dev_load(9)

mwah 💋 this lil page lives under the source/version ./net/core, dated October 2026, and it's serving dev_ioctl(9) until the very last line. periodt. 🌈✨