init_dma_desc_rings(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 init_dma_desc_rings — Kernel API Manual, section 9 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to the init_dma_desc_rings page 💖 this one lives in the Kernel API Manual, section 9 — yes, the big-kid kernel-internals section, we love her for that 👑 grab ur emotional support iced coffee and let's go ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

init_dma_desc_rings — literally just init the RX/TX descriptor rings 🦋 no cap, that's the whole tagline, she's concise and she knows it 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int init_dma_desc_rings (struct net_device *dev , struct stmmac_dma_conf
*dma_conf , gfp_t flags );

bestie look at that signature 😭 returns an int, takes three things, slay.

🫶 ARGUMENTS 🫶

okay so here's the cast of characters, one bullet each, no one gets left out 🎀

  • dev — the net device structure 💖 this is the whole network device she's working on, the main character fr
  • dma_conf — the structure to take the dma data 🦋 like, the struct where the DMA data goes, that's her job
  • flags — a gfp flag 🌸 (the allocation flag, iykyk)

💀 DESCRIPTION 💀

so what does she actually do? lowkey a lot 🔥

this function initializes the DMA RX/TX descriptors and allocates the socket buffers. two jobs, one function, main character energy periodt 💅

and the way that it supports the chained and ring modes?? both of them. not one. both. iconic 🌈

ngl this is the kind of function where if the descriptors aren't set up right, nothing else downstream is gonna slay either — she's load-bearing 🫶

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

the friend group 🥰 every single one of these, mwah, no skips:

  • Kernel file ./drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac_main.c 🍓

and the whole extended squad:

and that's the page bestie 🌈✨ shoutout to the source, ./drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro..., and to October 2026 for the date stamp — this manual page ate and left no crumbs, hope the descriptor rings were everything u dreamed of 💜🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from