MANAGED RESOURCES(9)

okay bestie, welcome to the managed resources(9) page from the Kernel API Manual 💖 this one is short but it's literally carrying lifetime lore, so let's go.

🌸 managed resources ✨

These are inspired by struct device managed resources, but plot twist: they're tied to the lifetime of struct drm_device. And struct drm_device can outlive the underlying physical device — usually when userspace has some open files and other handles to resources still open. Main character energy, fr fr 💅

Release actions can be added with drmm_add_action, and memory allocations can be done directly with drmm_kmalloc and the related functions. Everything will be released on the final drm_dev_put in reverse order of how the release actions have been added and memory has been allocated since driver loading started with devm_drm_dev_alloc. No cap ✨

Note that release actions and managed memory can also be added and removed during the lifetime of the driver — all the functions are fully concurrent safe. But it is recommended to use managed resources only for resources that change rarely, if ever, during the lifetime of the drm_device instance. That's the vibe check, bestie 🫶

👀 SEE ALSO

• Kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/drm_managed.c
• drmm_release_action(9)
• drmm_kmalloc(9)
• drmm_kstrdup(9)
• drmm_kfree(9)

xoxo, this page is sourced from ./drivers/gpu/drm, dated October 2026, and it's the managed resources(9) page from the Kernel API Manual — periodt 💖🦋🎀