dma_fence_signal(9)

💖 dma_fence_signal(9) 💖

okay so this is a page straight out of the Kernel API Manual, and honestly? it's a whole little icon. it's dma_fence_signal(9) and it's about telling a fence "bestie you're DONE" 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

dma_fence_signal — signal completion of a fence 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void dma_fence_signal (struct dma_fence *fence );

like yes that's the whole signature, she's short and she knows it ✨

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• fence — the fence to signal. that's her. that's the one you're completing 🫶

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

okay so what this does is signal completion for the software callbacks on a fence. think of it as the group-chat "we're here, we made it" message 🎉

the way that it works: this will unblock dma_fence_wait calls, and it runs all the callbacks added with dma_fence_add_callback. all of them. every single one. slay 🔥

and here's the little plot twist — you can call it multiple times, no cap. BUT. a fence can only go from the unsignaled state to the signaled state, and it can never go back. so it will only be effective the first time 😭 periodt, that's just how she is.

fr fr don't expect the second call to do anything — the fence already ate and moved on 💀

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

so many siblings, she's got main character energy in a whole family of functions 🧚

• Kernel file ./drivers/dma-buf/dma-fence.c
• DMA fences overview(9)
• fence cross-driver contract(9)
• dma_fence_get_stub(9)
• dma_fence_allocate_private_stub(9)
• dma_fence_context_alloc(9)
• fence signalling annotation(9)
• dma_fence_begin_signalling(9)
• dma_fence_end_signalling(9)
• dma_fence_signal_timestamp_locked(9)
• dma_fence_signal_timestamp(9)
• dma_fence_signal_locked(9)
• dma_fence_check_and_signal_locked(9)
• dma_fence_check_and_signal(9)
• dma_fence_wait_timeout(9)
• dma_fence_release(9)
• dma_fence_free(9)
• dma_fence_enable_signaling(9)
• dma_fence_add_callback(9)
• dma_fence_get_status(9)
• dma_fence_remove_callback(9)
• dma_fence_default_wait(9)
• dma_fence_wait_any_timeout(9)
• deadline hints(9)
• dma_fence_set_deadline(9)
• dma_fence_describe(9)
• dma_fence_init(9)
• dma_fence_init64(9)
• dma_fence_driver_name(9)
• dma_fence_timeline_name(9)

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and that's the page bestie 💜 she lives in ./drivers/dma-buf, dated October 2026, and she's out here being iconic in the Kernel API Manual. mwah 💋✨