disable_work_sync(9)

✨ disable_work_sync — Disable, cancel and drain a work item ✨

okay so this is a page straight out of the Kernel API Manual, and honestly? it's a short one, which is a vibe. it's the chill-but-thorough cousin of disable_work, and it's here to make sure your work item is actually done before you move on. no cap. 🫶

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💖 SYNOPSIS

bool disable_work_sync (struct work_struct *work );

like yes, that's the whole signature. short and iconic. 👑

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🌸 ARGUMENTS

• work — the work item you wanna disable. that's it, that's the argument. main character energy for real. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION

so basically, this is similar to disable_work 🎀 — but with a lil extra: it also waits for the work to finish if it's currently executing. so it disables, cancels, and drains. the whole package. the way that it does all three… obsessed. 😭✨

⚠️ okay this part is important, bestie, read it twice: it must be called from a sleepable context if work was last queued on a non-BH workqueue. 🛌

it can also be called from non-hardirq atomic contexts including BH if work was last queued on a BH workqueue. so like, context matters — check where your work came from first, fr fr. 🔍

and the return value? it returns true if work was pending, and false otherwise. simple. slay. ⭐

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🔥 SEE ALSO

the whole squad 🫶 — first off, kernel file ./kernel/workqueue.c, and then literally every single one of these, no skips, no cuts, i'm not hiding a single one from you:

for_each_pool(9), for_each_pool_worker(9), for_each_pwq(9),
worker_pool_assign_id(9), unbound_effective_cpumask(9), get_work_pool(9),
worker_set_flags(9), worker_clr_flags(9), worker_enter_idle(9),
worker_leave_idle(9), find_worker_executing_work(9), move_linked_works(9),
assign_work(9), kick_pool_pick(9), kick_pool(9), wq_worker_running(9),
wq_worker_sleeping(9), wq_worker_tick(9), wq_worker_last_func(9),
wq_node_nr_active(9), wq_update_node_max_active(9), get_pwq(9), put_pwq(9),
put_pwq_unlocked(9), pwq_tryinc_nr_active(9), pwq_activate_first_inactive(9),
unplug_oldest_pwq(9), node_activate_pending_pwq(9), pwq_dec_nr_active(9),
pwq_dec_nr_in_flight(9), try_to_grab_pending(9), work_grab_pending(9),
insert_work(9), queue_work_on(9), select_numa_node_cpu(9), queue_work_node(9),
queue_delayed_work_on(9), mod_delayed_work_on(9), queue_rcu_work(9),
worker_attach_to_pool(9), worker_detach_from_pool(9), create_worker(9),
set_worker_dying(9), idle_worker_timeout(9), idle_cull_fn(9),
maybe_create_worker(9), manage_workers(9), process_one_work(9),
process_scheduled_works(9), worker_thread(9), rescuer_thread(9),
check_flush_dependency(9), insert_wq_barrier(9), flush_workqueue_prep_pwqs(9),
__flush_workqueue(9), drain_workqueue(9), flush_work(9),
flush_delayed_work(9), flush_rcu_work(9), cancel_work_sync(9),
cancel_delayed_work(9), cancel_delayed_work_sync(9), disable_work(9),
enable_work(9), disable_delayed_work(9), disable_delayed_work_sync(9),
enable_delayed_work(9), schedule_on_each_cpu(9),
execute_in_process_context(9), free_workqueue_attrs(9),
alloc_workqueue_attrs(9), init_worker_pool(9), put_unbound_pool(9),
get_unbound_pool(9), wq_calc_pod_cpumask(9), apply_workqueue_attrs(9),
unbound_wq_update_pwq(9), wq_adjust_max_active(9), destroy_workqueue(9),
workqueue_set_max_active(9), workqueue_set_min_active(9), current_work(9),
current_is_workqueue_rescuer(9), current_is_workqueue_mem_reclaim(9),
workqueue_congested(9), work_busy(9), set_worker_desc(9),
print_worker_info(9), show_one_workqueue(9), show_one_worker_pool(9),
show_all_workqueues(9), show_freezable_workqueues(9), rebind_workers(9),
restore_unbound_workers_cpumask(9), work_on_cpu_key(9),
freeze_workqueues_begin(9), freeze_workqueues_busy(9), thaw_workqueues(9),
workqueue_unbound_housekeeping_update(9), workqueue_set_unbound_cpumask(9),
workqueue_sysfs_register(9), workqueue_sysfs_unregister(9),
workqueue_init_early(9), workqueue_init(9), llc_count_cores(9),
llc_populate_cpu_shard_id(9), precompute_cache_shard_ids(9),
workqueue_init_topology(9)

like, that's a lot of friends. iykyk. 💀🌈

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and that's the tea, bestie 🍓 — this page lives under ./kernel and it's dated October 2026, so go forth and drain those work items responsibly. mwah. 💜🧚