i915_request_wait(9)

💅 i915_request_wait — bestie's guide to waiting on a GPU request

okay so, real talk: this is i915_request_wait from the Kernel API Manual, and it's literally the "pls finish ur homework so I can move on" function of the i915 world. Let's get into it ✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

long i915_request_wait (struct i915_request *rq , unsigned int flags ,
       long timeout );

three args, one return value, zero drama (well… mostly, see the NOTE below 👀)

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• rq — the request you're waiting upon, aka the main character of this whole function 💖
• flags — how to wait. that's the vibe check: it tells the function which waiting mode you want 🦋
• timeout — how long to wait, measured in jiffies ⏳

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

i915_request_wait waits for the request to be completed — but only for a maximum of timeout jiffies. and if you pass MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT, that means an unbounded wait, i.e. no cap at all, we're here forever until it's done 😭👑

so what does it give back? if the request completed, you get the remaining time (in jiffies) 💫 — which, heads up, may be zero. if the request is still unfinished after the timeout expires, you get -ETIME 💀

and one more: it may return -EINTR if it's called with I915_WAIT_INTERRUPTIBLE and a signal is pending before the request completes 🙈 (yes that's how it's worded, we're rolling with it)

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⚠️ NOTE ⚠️

this function behaves differently from dma-fence wait semantics when timeout = 0 👀 it returns 0 on success, and -ETIME if not signaled. not a drill, don't assume it matches the dma-fence vibe 🌈

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

• Kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_request.c
• i915_request_active_engine(9)
• i915_request_free_capture_list(9)
• i915_request_await_deps(9)
• i915_request_await_object(9)
• i915_request_wait_timeout(9)

all the siblings, all iconic, go read them too 📚💅

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and that's the whole thing bestie, no cap 🧚 from ./drivers/gpu/drm/i915, dated October 2026, manual page i915_request_wait(9) — slay, go wait on that request 💖🌸🎀