intel_eth_pci_probe(9)

💅 intel_eth_pci_probe — Kernel API Manual, section 9

okay bestie, buckle up, we're reading a section 9 manpage together and honestly? she's short but she's got lore. this is intel_eth_pci_probe(9), straight out of the Kernel API Manual, and yes the title line is doing double duty as the header so let's just vibe with it. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

intel_eth_pci_probe — and then... nothing. that's it. the description after the dash is literally empty. not me reading a NAME section that has no name-description 😭 the manpage said "figure it out yourself" and honestly? respect. the function name is all we get, so hold onto it.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int intel_eth_pci_probe (struct pci_dev *pdev , const struct pci_device_id *id );

she returns an int, she takes two pointers, she's booked and busy. that's the whole signature, no cap. ✨

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• pdev — the pci device pointer. literally the device we're looking at, just handed to us. hi bestie 👋
• id — pointer to the table of device id/id's. it's giving "here's the list of who you might be matching," and yes the original writes id/id's with that little plural-of-plural situation. we love a quirky original. 💅

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so this is the probing function, and the vibe check here is that it gets called for all PCI devices which match the ID table and are not "owned" by another driver yet. key detail, do not skip it: not owned by anyone else. she does not do drama, she does not steal devices from other drivers. 🫶

This function gets passed a struct pci_dev * for each device whose entry in the ID table matches the device. so like, per matching device, you get a shiny pointer and it's your moment.

The probe function returns zero when the driver chooses to take "ownership" of the device — zero is the slay, zero means "mine now, thanks" 👑 — or an error code (-ve no, i.e. a negative number) otherwise. so if you see a negative number come back, that's a no, that's a decline, that's the driver saying "not today."

fr fr keep those two outcomes straight: zero = ownership taken, negative = error. the original spells it -ve no, which is 100% a real abbreviation people use and 0% a typo, so we're preserving it exactly as written. 📌

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• Kernel file ./drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/dwmac-intel.c — yes, stmicro in the path of an intel function, the manpage said what it said, we don't question the filesystem's choices 🧚
• intel_eth_pci_remove(9) — the other half of the story, the removal era. read them as a pair, iykyk 💜

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🍓 the sign-off 🍓

this absolute gem of a page is from the Kernel API Manual, and the footer credits the source as ./drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro... — truncated with dots in the original, so we're keeping the dots, bestie, that's canon — dated October 2026. yes, 2026. she's from the future and she's still only four sections long. iconic behavior, honestly. 💀✨

go forth and probe responsibly 🎀💖