devm_input_allocate_device(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 devm_input_allocate_device(9) — like, the managed input device allocator, bestie 💖

okay so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, and it's about devm_input_allocate_device — the version of "make me an input device" that cleans up after itself so you literally don't have to. devm = dev-managed = built-in parent, no cap 🧚

✨ NAME ✨

devm_input_allocate_device — allocate a managed input device 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

struct input_dev * devm_input_allocate_device (struct device *dev );

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • dev — the device that owns the input device you're creating (think of it as the parent, the adult in the room, the one signing the permission slip 🫶)

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

It returns a prepared struct input_dev or NULL. That's it. That's the whole return situation. 😭

So here's the tea ☕: managed input devices do not need to be explicitly unregistered or freed, because that whole thing gets done automatically when the owner device unbinds from its driver (or when the binding fails, which, relatable 💀).

Once a managed input device is allocated, it's literally ready to be set up and registered in the same fashion as a regular input device. Same vibe, same routine, no extra steps.

And before you ask — there are no special devm_input_device_[un]register variants, okay? The regular ones work with both managed and unmanaged devices, should you need them. But in most cases, a managed input device need not be explicitly unregistered or freed. It's giving self-sufficient. It's giving main character energy. 👑

🙈 NOTE 🙈

the owner device is set up as parent of the input device, and users should not override it. Like, don't touch. Hands off. That's its parent, periodt. ✋💅

fr fr do not override the parent — that's the whole point of the devm situation.

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Kernel file ./drivers/input/input.c, plus a whole friend group of functions:

💖 and that's the page, bestie 💖

this lil masterpiece lives over in ./drivers/input, dated October 2026, and it's filed under that iconic name devm_input_allocate_device(9). slay, go allocate something, and remember: it frees itself, so you don't have to 💅✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from