gen_pool_free_owner(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 gen_pool_free_owner — from the Kernel API Manual, bestie

Okay so real talk, this page lives in section 9 of the Kernel API Manual and it's about giving back your special memory to the pool you borrowed it from. Like returning a borrowed hoodie but make it ✨kernel✨.

🌸 NAME

gen_pool_free_owner — free allocated special memory back to the pool

Literally what it says on the tin. You allocated, now you free. Balance. Periodt.

🎀 SYNOPSIS

void gen_pool_free_owner (struct gen_pool *pool , unsigned long addr ,
size_t size , void **owner );

Four args, no return value, void as always — she does her job and doesn't need to report back. Iconic behaviour honestly.

🦋 ARGUMENTS

  • pool — the pool you're freeing to 🫶 (the one you borrowed from, don't get cute and mix them up)
  • addr — starting address of the memory you're handing back to the pool
  • size — how big that memory is, in bytes
  • owner — the private data you stashed back at gen_pool_add time 👀

💖 DESCRIPTION

So basically: this frees previously allocated special memory back to the pool you specify. That's the whole vibe.

⚠️ But bestie listen to me — this can not be used in an NMI handler on architectures without an NMI-safe cmpxchg implementation. Not a suggestion, not a vibe check fail, it's just a no. 💀

✨ SEE ALSO

Kernel file ./lib/genalloc.c plus the whole friend group:

That's the whole page, ngl. Go free your memory responsibly 💜 — this little love letter came from ./lib, dated October 2026, and it's signed gen_pool_free_owner(9) like the main character she is. 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from