lpfc_mbuf_alloc(9)

💖 lpfc_mbuf_alloc(9) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual ✨ — yes we're in kernel-land today, and no, it's not scary, i promise 🫶 this one's from <rainbow>lpfc_mbuf_alloc(9)</rainbow> and it's literally just "gimme a buffer, pls" energy.

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✨ NAME ✨

lpfc_mbuf_alloc — allocate an mbuf from the lpfc_mbuf_pool PCI pool 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void * lpfc_mbuf_alloc (struct lpfc_hba *phba , int mem_flags ,
       dma_addr_t *handle );

like, that's the whole vibe. three args, one pointer back. slay. 💅

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• phba — the HBA that owns the pool we're allocating from. it's giving "whose house are we raiding" energy 👑
• mem_flags — tells you if this is a priority (MEM_PRI) allocation. fancy mode, basically ✨
• handle — used to return the DMA-mapped address of the mbuf back to you. it's the little messenger that brings the address home 🎀

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so what does it actually do? it allocates a DMA-mapped buffer from the lpfc_mbuf_pool PCI pool. periodt. 🫶

here's the tea tho — the order of operations matters, iykyk: it allocates from the generic dma_pool_alloc function first, and if that fails and mem_flags has MEM_PRI set (which is, btw, the only defined flag 👀), then it returns an mbuf from the HBA's pool instead.

so it's like: try the normal spot, and if that's a flop and you flagged priority, fall back to the HBA's own stash. backup plan is iconic, honestly 💅

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🎀 NOTES 🎀

bestie pls read this part, it's important 😭

• Not interrupt-safe. like, do not come at this from interrupt context, fr fr 💀
• Must be called with no locks held. none. zero. zip. 🙈
• Takes phba->hbalock. yes, it takes it — that's why you don't. the way that it handles its own locking… main character energy tbh 👑

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

• pointer to the allocated mbuf on success 🌈
• NULL on failure 💀

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🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

kernel file ./drivers/scsi/lpfc/lpfc_mem.c plus the whole friend group 🫶:

• lpfc_mem_alloc(9)
• lpfc_mem_free(9)
• lpfc_mem_free_all(9)
• __lpfc_mbuf_free(9)
• lpfc_mbuf_free(9)
• lpfc_nvmet_buf_alloc(9)
• lpfc_nvmet_buf_free(9)
• lpfc_els_hbq_alloc(9)
• lpfc_els_hbq_free(9)
• lpfc_sli4_rb_alloc(9)
• lpfc_sli4_rb_free(9)
• lpfc_sli4_nvmet_alloc(9)
• lpfc_sli4_nvmet_free(9)
• lpfc_in_buf_free(9)
• lpfc_rq_buf_free(9)

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and that's the page, bestie 🧚💖 this lil gem lives under ./drivers/scsi/lpfc and it's dated October 2026 — so like, future vibes only 🌸⭐ go forth and allocate responsibly, mwah 💋