kernfs_activate(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🦋 kernfs_activate(9) — the Kernel API Manual glow-up ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the kernfs_activate(9) page 💖 this one lives in the Kernel API Manual and honestly? it's a small function with main character energy. let's get into it 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

kernfs_activate — activate a node which started deactivated 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void kernfs_activate (struct kernfs_node *kn );

like, that's the whole signature. no cap, that's it 🫶

💅 ARGUMENTS 💅

  • kn — the kernfs_node whose subtree is to be activated 🌈 yes, the whole subtree, not just the one node, queen.

🔥 DESCRIPTION 🔥

so here's the tea ☕ if the root has KERNFS_ROOT_CREATE_DEACTIVATED set, then a newly created node needs to be explicitly activated. that's the vibe check it has to pass 💀

a node which hasn't been activated isn't visible to userland 👀 and deactivation is skipped during its removal. so it's just... sitting there, unseen, doing its little ghost thing 🙈

and why would you want that? because it's useful to construct atomic init sequences where creation of multiple nodes should either succeed or fail atomically ✨ like all-or-nothing, no messy half-built state lying around. iconic behaviour honestly 👑

⚠️ warning bestie: the caller is responsible for ensuring that this function is not called after kernfs_remove*() is invoked on kn. that's on you, not on the kernel. don't do it 🙏

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

Kernel file ./fs/kernfs/dir.c — plus the whole friend group 💜:

that's the whole page bestie, go activate some nodes responsibly 💖✨🎀🦋🌸

this lil masterpiece comes from the ./fs/kernfs source, dated October 2026 — mwah, sending you a kiss, iykyk 💋

📦 where this page comes from