netdev_work_cancel(9)

✨ NAME ✨

netdev_work_cancel — cancel selected work for a netdev 🧚

okay so quick vibe check first: this whole page lives in the Kernel API Manual bestie, that's the manual we're in, and it's literally all about calling off some of a netdev's pending work. that's it, that's the girl. 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

unsigned long netdev_work_cancel (struct net_device *dev , unsigned long
mask );

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🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• dev — a net_device. the device in question. the main character, honestly. 👑
• mask — the events to cancel. like, which ones you're calling off. 🎀

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what this does is clear mask from the device's work pending mask. that's the whole move. ✨

and here's the slay part: if there's no work left pending, the device gets dequeued and its ndo_work won't be called. no cap. it's giving "you're done here." 💀

ngl, the locking situation is a whole mood: no expectations on locking, but also no guarantees provided. so if the caller wants to touch dev afterwards (like, say, call the work that just got canceled 😭) they have to make sure dev doesn't get freed. that's on you, bestie. protect her. 🫶

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

it returns the subset of mask that was actually pending — so the caller can run those events inline. convenient much? 🔥

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• Kernel file ./net/core/netdev_work.c — go read it, iykyk 🦋

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and that's the page!! 💜 huge thanks to the source fam over in ./net/core, this edition is dated October 2026, and the manual page is literally called netdev_work_cancel(9) in case you forgot five seconds after reading the title 🎀✨