dma_buf_iter_begin(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

✨ dma_buf_iter_begin(9) ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual entry for dma_buf_iter_begin — and yes, this is a function name, not a weird TikTok sound 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

dma_buf_iter_begin — your official start-the-tour button for the global list of all DMA buffers 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

struct dma_buf * dma_buf_iter_begin (void );

💜 ARGUMENTS 💜

  • void — literally no arguments. nothing. zero. she takes nothing and she serves 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so here's the vibe: this function hands you back the first buffer in the global list of DMA-bufs that's not in the process of being destroyed. Like, she's scanning the whole list and she skips past the ones that are mid-glow-down ✨🚫

When she finds one, she increments that buffer's reference count to prevent buffer destruction — protecting her new fave from getting deleted while you're still looking at it 😭💖

Important, no cap: callers must release the reference. You do that either by continuing iteration with dma_buf_iter_next, or with dma_buf_put. don't just walk away and leave the refcount hanging, that's rude and also a bug 🙈

🔥 RETURN 🔥

  • First buffer from global list, with refcount elevated 👑 (she's protected now, bestie)
  • NULL if no active buffers are present 💀 (empty list, nothing to see, go home)

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Kernel file ./drivers/dma-buf/dma-buf.c — plus the whole friend group, and we love them all:

okay that's the whole page, go be iconic with your iterator 🧚💫

sign-off time: this one lives in ./drivers/dma-buf, dated October 2026, and it's the dma_buf_iter_begin(9) page — mwah 💋🍓

📦 where this page comes from