drm_panel_add_follower(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 drm_panel_add_follower(9) — aka the Kernel API Manual, bestie edition 🎀

okay so picture this: you're a kernel dev, you've got a panel, and you want a little buddy to follow it around. that's what we're doing here. this is drm_panel_add_follower, and she is lowkey the matchmaker of the DRM panel world 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int drm_panel_add_follower (struct device *follower_dev , struct
       drm_panel_follower *follower );

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

  • follower_dev — the struct device for the follower. yep, that's your little buddy's paperwork 📋
  • follower — the panel follower descriptor for the follower. the whole personality of the follower lives in here 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the vibe. a panel follower gets called right after the panel is prepared/enabled, and right before it's unprepared/disabled. she's always in the right place at the right time, no cap ⏰✨

her primary intention? powering on an associated touchscreen 👆🔥 though ngl she could totally be used for any similar devices too. she's versatile like that.

multiple devices are allowed to follow the same panel — the more the merrier, it's giving group chat energy 👑

and here's the cute part: if a follower gets added to a panel that's already been prepared/enabled, the follower's prepared/enabled callback is called right away. no waiting around, she gets the invite immediately 💌

the "panel" property of the follower points to the panel to be followed. that's the whole link-up 🫱🫲

⭐ RETURN ⭐

0 or an error code. simple as that.

heads up though: -ENODEV means we detected that follower_dev is not actually following a panel 😭 so the whole thing was kind of a situationship that never happened. the caller may choose to ignore this return value if following a panel is optional — like, no pressure bestie, it's fine, we're fine 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c — drm panel(9), and the whole friend group:

and that's the tea ☕✨ this page lives in ./drivers/gpu/drm, dated October 2026 — so mark your calendars, screenshot it, pin it, whatever, because she's iconic and she's not going anywhere 💖🎀🌸

📦 where this page comes from