ixgbevf_poll_mbx(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💌 ixgbevf_poll_mbx(9) — the Kernel API Manual, bestie edition 🎀

Okay so we're deep in the ixgbevf corner of the kernel, and this little icon is ixgbevf_poll_mbx — it's literally the "wait for a message and then go grab it out of the mailbox" function. Very main character of it. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

ixgbevf_poll_mbx — wait for the message, then read it out of the mailbox. That's it, that's the whole job. 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

s32 ixgbevf_poll_mbx (struct ixgbe_hw *hw , u32 *msg , u16 size );

Not me staring respectfully at that return type. s32, we love a signed 32-bit moment. 😌

🫶 ARGUMENTS 🫶

  • hw — pointer to the HW structure. The whole hardware situation lives in here, so like… she's important. 👑
  • msg — the message buffer. This is where the tea gets poured in. 🍓
  • size — length of buffer. You gotta tell it how much room there is, no cap. 📏

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

So basically: it returns 0 if it successfully read the message from the buffer. That's the win condition, bestie — 0 means slay, we got the message. ✨🔥

Lowkey important: the manpage only promises that return value story, so don't go inventing extra behaviour in your head. Read the source if you want the full lore. 👀

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

The whole friend group 🫶 — kernel file ./drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbevf/mbx.c, plus:

That's the whole page, bestie — go read a mailbox or something. 💀✨

Sign-off szn 🎀: this gorgeous thing comes from ./drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i... (yes the path got cut off in the footer, not my fault, blame the formatter 🙈) and it's dated October 2026. Pages like this don't write themselves — someone out here documenting kernel mailbox lore for us. Obsessed. 💖

📦 where this page comes from