get_old_timespec32(9)

💖 get_old_timespec32 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual — yes that's the manual name, we're in the kernel docs section, put your seatbelt on 🎀

This one is a tiny little function with a very specific job and honestly it's giving "quiet kid in the back of the class who's actually a genius." Let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

get_old_timespec32 — the way to pull a user's old-format time value into kernel space. literally just that. no cap. 🕐

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int get_old_timespec32 (struct timespec64 *ts , const void __user *uts );

That's the whole flex. Two args, one int coming back at you. 💅

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• ts — the destination struct timespec64. this is where the good stuff lands, it's the main character of the operation ✨
• uts — the user's old-format time value, and it's a struct old_timespec32. note the __user on the pointer type — yeah, that one. treat it with respect 🙈

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🧚 DESCRIPTION 🧚

So what does it actually do? It handles the X86_X32_ABI compatibility conversion. that's it. that's the whole description. iconic brevity honestly 👑

Translation for the besties: you've got an old-format time value sitting over in user space, and you need it in kernel space in the new-format struct timespec64 shape. This is the little compatibility bridge that makes that happen on X86_X32_ABI. fr fr, it's a converter. 🫶

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

• 0 on success 🎉
• a negative errno on error 😭

that's it, that's the contract. check your return value, bestie, always 💀

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Up next on the playlist, we got the whole Kernel file ./kernel/time/time.c crew, and here's the full lineup — no skips, no shuffling, we're listening to the whole album 🌈

• jiffies_to_msecs(9)
• jiffies_to_usecs(9)
• mktime64(9)
• set_normalized_timespec64(9)
• ns_to_timespec64(9)
• __msecs_to_jiffies(9)
• __usecs_to_jiffies(9)
• timespec64_to_jiffies(9)
• jiffies_to_timespec64(9)
• jiffies_to_clock_t(9)
• clock_t_to_jiffies(9)
• jiffies_64_to_clock_t(9)
• nsec_to_clock_t(9)
• jiffies64_to_nsecs(9)
• jiffies64_to_msecs(9)
• nsecs_to_jiffies64(9)
• nsecs_to_jiffies(9)
• timespec64_add_safe(9)
• get_timespec64(9)
• put_timespec64(9)
• put_old_timespec32(9)
• get_itimerspec64(9)
• put_itimerspec64(9)
• get_old_itimerspec32(9)
• put_old_itimerspec32(9)

yeah that's twenty-five of them. not me counting. i counted. 🍓

also peep put_old_timespec32(9) down there — that's this function's sibling, the reverse direction. cute lil family 💜

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and that's the page!! 💖

shoutout to the source — this one lives under ./kernel/time — and it's dated October 2026, so mark your calendars bestie 📅✨ go forth and convert your timestamps responsibly, ily, bye 🎀🦋💅