drm_helper_hpd_irq_event(9)

💅 drm_helper_hpd_irq_event(9) — like, the hotplug processing era

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual entry for drm_helper_hpd_irq_event(9) — yes that's the name, yes it's a mouthful, no we're not shortening it, it's iconic 💖

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✨ NAME ✨

drm_helper_hpd_irq_event — hotplug processing, and honestly it's giving main character energy in the DRM helper cinematic universe 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

bool drm_helper_hpd_irq_event (struct drm_device *dev );

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✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

• dev — a drm_device, that's it, that's the whole argument, slay 🫶

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So here's the vibe: drivers can use this helper function to run a detect cycle on, like, all the connectors that have the DRM_CONNECTOR_POLL_HPD flag set in their polled member. All the other connectors? Ignored. Not invited to the party. Which is genuinely useful, because it means you avoid reprobing fixed panels — no cap, nobody wants that 💀

This helper function is the moment for drivers which can't or don't track hotplug interrupts for each connector. If that's your driver, congrats, this is literally your function 🌸

Now, drivers which do support hotplug interrupts for each connector individually, and which have a more fine-grained detect logic, can use drm_connector_helper_hpd_irq_event instead. Alternatively — and this is the tea ☕ — they should bypass this code entirely and directly call drm_kms_helper_hotplug_event in case the connector state changed. iykyk.

⚠️ okay this part is important: this function must be called from process context with no mode setting locks held. Like, do not. I'm serious. 🙈

Also note that a connector can be both polled and probed from the hotplug handler, in case the hotplug interrupt is known to be unreliable. Belt and suspenders, we love to see it 🦋

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✨ RETURN ✨

A boolean indicating whether the connector status changed or not. true = something moved, false = nothing to see here ✨

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

the way that this list just keeps going, obsessed 👑

• Kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/drm_probe_helper.c output probing helper overview(9)
• drm_kms_helper_poll_enable(9)
• drm_kms_helper_poll_reschedule(9)
• drm_helper_probe_detect(9)
• drm_helper_probe_single_connector_modes(9)
• drm_kms_helper_hotplug_event(9)
• drm_kms_helper_connector_hotplug_event(9)
• drm_kms_helper_is_poll_worker(9)
• drm_kms_helper_poll_disable(9)
• drm_kms_helper_poll_init(9)
• drm_kms_helper_poll_fini(9)
• drmm_kms_helper_poll_init(9)
• drm_connector_helper_hpd_irq_event(9)
• drm_crtc_helper_mode_valid_fixed(9)
• drm_connector_helper_get_modes_fixed(9)
• drm_connector_helper_get_modes(9)
• drm_connector_helper_tv_get_modes(9)
• drm_connector_helper_detect_from_ddc(9)

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🧚💜

this icon lives in ./drivers/gpu/drm and the version stamp says October 2026 — so yeah, stay tuned, she's from the future 💅⭐ bye mwah 🍓