overlay_upda...g_references(9)

💅 overlay_upda...g_references(9) — like, the Kernel API Manual, bestie ✨

okay so real talk, this page lives in the Kernel API Manual section 9, and the star of the show is overlay_update_node_conflicting_references — yes that's a mouthful, yes she ate, no we're not shortening it 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

overlay_update_node_conflicting_references — recursively replace phandle values 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int overlay_update_node_conflicting_references (void *fdto , int
tree_node , int fixup_node , uint32_t fdt_phandle , uint32_t
fdto_phandle );

🫶 ARGUMENTS 🫶

• fdto — the device tree overlay blob, that's her 💖
• tree_node — the node you're recursing into, like going deeper down the timeline 🌈
• fixup_node — the node offset of the matching local fixups node, iykyk ⭐
• fdt_phandle — the value you're replacing phandles with (the new one, the main character 👑)
• fdto_phandle — the value that's getting replaced (RIP to her 💀)

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So what she does is: replaces all phandles that have the value fdto_phandle with fdt_phandle. Every single one. No cap. It's giving find-and-replace but make it device tree and make it iconic ✨

🍓 RETURN 🍓

• 0 on success — we love a clean win 🎉
• a negative error code on failure — not the vibe, but she'll tell you 😭

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

The kernel file itself, ./scripts/dtc/libfdt/fdt_overlay.c — go read the source, bestie, it's right there 📂

And the whole friend group, all of them, in order:

• overlay_get_target_phandle(9)
• overlay_phandle_add_offset(9)
• overlay_adjust_node_phandles(9)
• overlay_adjust_local_phandles(9)
• overlay_update_local_node_references(9)
• overlay_update_local_references(9)
• overlay_fixup_one_phandle(9)
• overlay_fixup_phandle(9)
• overlay_fixup_phandles(9)
• overlay_adjust_local_conflicting_phandle(9)
• overlay_update_local_conflicting_references(9)
• overlay_prevent_phandle_overwrite_node(9)
• overlay_prevent_phandle_overwrite(9)
• overlay_apply_node(9)
• overlay_merge(9)
• overlay_symbol_update(9)

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fr fr, if you're here it's because you're deep in the overlay fixup trenches and honestly? respect 🫡💜

okay bye ily, this page came from ./scripts/dtc/libfdt and it's dated October 2026 — sign-off complete, mwah 💋💖