drm_kms_helper_poll_init(9)

✨ drm_kms_helper_poll_init(9) ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual 💖 this one's a little function with a big job, and it lives at drm_kms_helper_poll_init(9) — say that five times fast, i dare you 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

drm_kms_helper_poll_init — initialize and enable output polling 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

void drm_kms_helper_poll_init (struct drm_device *dev );

literally just one arg, we love a low-effort signature 👑

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• dev — a struct drm_device. that's it. that's the whole argument. she's the main character here 🎀

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so this function initializes output polling support for dev, and then — plot twist — it also enables it. two things, one call, iconic behavior honestly ✨

here's the vibe: if your driver doesn't have reliable hotplug support in hardware (no cap, some hardware just doesn't come through for you 😭), you can lean on this helper infrastructure to regularly poll those connectors and peep whether their connection state changed. it's giving "i'll just check myself" energy 🙈

drivers get to control which connectors actually get polled by setting the DRM_CONNECTOR_POLL_CONNECT and DRM_CONNECTOR_POLL_DISCONNECT flags. 🚩

⚠️ okay important one: on connectors where probing live outputs can result in visual distortion, drivers should not set the DRM_CONNECTOR_POLL_DISCONNECT flag, because that's exactly how you avoid the distortion. do not skip this, bestie 💀

and for the connectors that have no flag at all, or only DRM_CONNECTOR_POLL_HPD set? they are completely ignored by the polling logic. not even a little bit polled. ghosted, fr fr 🫥

also worth knowing: a connector can be both polled and probed from the hotplug handler — that's a real combo that's allowed, specifically in case the hotplug interrupt is known to be unreliable. belt and suspenders, we stan 🌈

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

the whole friend group, assembled 🫶 go say hi:

• 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_fini(9)
• drmm_kms_helper_poll_init(9)
• drm_connector_helper_hpd_irq_event(9)
• drm_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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🍓 SIGN-OFF 🍓

this page came straight out of ./drivers/gpu/drm, dated October 2026, and honestly? she ate. now go init some polling, bestie — ily, bye! 💖✨🧚‍♀️