pci_dev_put(9)

💅 pci_dev_put — the "okay I'm done with you" of PCI devices

So this is a page from the Kernel API Manual (that's the pci_dev_put(9) one, bestie, section 9) and honestly it's short but it matters. Let's get into it.

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✨ NAME ✨

pci_dev_put — release a use of the pci device structure

Like, you borrowed the device, now give it back. Politely. 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void pci_dev_put (struct pci_dev *dev );

That's it. That's the whole signature. Returns nothing, takes one pointer. Iconic minimalism, honestly.

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• dev — the device that's been disconnected ✨

(Yes, that's the whole description of the argument in the original. Short and sweet. Not me being lazy, bestie, this is just how the page is. 💀)

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so here's the vibe check: you must call this when a user of a device is finished with it. That's the rule. No skipping it.

And the main character moment 🎬: when the last user of the device calls this function, the memory of the device is freed.

So like, the memory isn't freed until everyone who was using the device has called pci_dev_put. Everyone has to let go before it can ✨ ascend ✨. If you're the last one out, you turn off the lights and the memory gets freed. Periodt.

Real talk though: "must be called" means must be called. Don't be the person who ghosts a PCI device and leaks memory. That's giving red flag behaviour. 🚩

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Kernel file ./drivers/pci/pci-driver.c — the whole squad lives here:

• do_pci_add_dynid(9)
• pci_add_dynid(9)
• do_pci_match_id(9)
• pci_match_id(9)
• pci_match_device(9)
• new_id_store(9)
• remove_id_store(9)
• __pci_device_probe(9)
• pci_restore_standard_config(9)
• __pci_register_driver(9)
• pci_unregister_driver(9)
• pci_dev_driver(9)
• pci_bus_match(9)
• pci_dev_get(9)
• pci_uevent_ers(9)
• pci_dma_configure(9)

(Shoutout to pci_dev_get(9) right there — it's the girl who takes the use, and pci_dev_put is the one who gives it back. They come as a set, iykyk. 👑)

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Okay that's the whole page, bestie, you ate that. 💅✨

This absolute gem 🍓 lives over in ./drivers/pci, dated October 2026, and the page itself is pci_dev_put(9). Go forth and release your uses responsibly. Mwah. 😭💖