phy_detach(9)

🎀 NAME 🎀

okay so welcome to the Kernel API Manual page for phy_detach(9), bestie. The name is phy_detach, and it means detach a PHY device from its network device. That’s the whole name section, and yes, it ate. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

no cap, the signature is literally this:

void phy_detach (struct phy_device *phydev );

🫶 ARGUMENTS 🫶

• phydev — the target phy_device struct, aka the PHY bestie we’re detaching. 🫶

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so what it does: it detaches the PHY device from its network device and the PHY driver, and drops the reference count taken in phy_attach_direct. That’s the plot. Not me dropping the reference count taken in phy_attach_direct — that’s literally part of the job. 💅

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

the kernel file is ./drivers/net/phy/phy_device.c — go say hi to the whole friend group: phy_uses_state_machine(9), phy_register_fixup(9), genphy_match_phy_device(9), get_phy_c45_ids(9), get_phy_c22_id(9), get_phy_device(9), phy_device_register(9), phy_device_remove(9), phy_get_c45_ids(9), phy_find_next(9), phy_prepare_link(9), phy_connect_direct(9), phy_connect(9), phy_disconnect(9), phy_poll_reset(9), phy_sfp_connect_phy(9), phy_sfp_disconnect_phy(9), phy_sfp_attach(9), phy_sfp_detach(9), phy_sfp_probe(9), phy_attach_direct(9), phy_reset_after_clk_enable(9), genphy_config_advert(9), genphy_c37_config_advert(9), genphy_setup_forced(9), genphy_restart_aneg(9), genphy_check_and_restart_aneg(9), __genphy_config_aneg(9), genphy_c37_config_aneg(9), genphy_aneg_done(9), genphy_update_link(9), genphy_read_status_fixed(9), genphy_read_status(9), genphy_c37_read_status(9), genphy_soft_reset(9), genphy_read_abilities(9), phy_remove_link_mode(9), phy_advertise_supported(9), phy_advertise_eee_all(9), phy_support_eee(9), phy_disable_eee(9), phy_support_sym_pause(9), phy_support_asym_pause(9), phy_set_sym_pause(9), phy_set_asym_pause(9), phy_validate_pause(9), phy_get_pause(9), phy_get_internal_delay(9), phy_get_tx_amplitude_gain(9), phy_get_mac_termination(9), phy_get_sfp_port(9), fwnode_mdio_find_device(9), fwnode_phy_find_device(9), fwnode_get_phy_node(9), phy_probe(9), phy_driver_register(9).

this whole thing lives under ./drivers/net/phy, is dated October 2026, and is literally phy_detach(9) — bye bestie, mwah 💋🫶