prb_read_valid(9)

💅 prb_read_valid(9) — a Kernel API Manual moment 🎀

okay so bestie, we're in the prb_read_valid(9) page, which lives in the Kernel API Manual, and it's lowkey one of the most useful little functions in the printk ringbuffer world. let's get into it ✨

---

✨ NAME ✨

prb_read_valid — a non-blocking read of a requested record, or (if that one's gone) the next available record. no waiting around, no blocking, we simply take what's there 🫶

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

bool prb_read_valid (struct printk_ringbuffer *rb , u64 seq , struct printk_record *r );

---

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• rb — the ringbuffer you're reading from. that's the main character, obviously 👑
• seq — the sequence number of the record you wanna read. your little ticket number 🎟️
• r — a record data buffer where the read record gets stored. the drop-off spot 📦

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

This is the public function available to readers for reading a record. it's giving "officially supported, no back-door hacks" energy, periodt ✨

Your job as the reader is to provide the info and text_buf buffers of r so they can be filled in. and honestly? any of the buffer pointers can be set to NULL if you're just not interested in that data — we respect your boundaries 💅

To make sure r is properly initialized, you should use prb_rec_init_rd. fr fr, don't skip this step 🙈

On success, you must check r->info.seq to see which record was actually read. and yes, that's the whole point — it's how you detect dropped records 😭 (they're gone, bestie, and this is how you know)

Failure means seq refers to a record that isn't available to the reader yet. not an error, just a "not yet, babe" situation ⏳

---

🌈 CONTEXT 🌈

Any context. literally any. she's flexible like that 🧚

---

⭐ RETURN ⭐

true if a record was read, otherwise false. simple, iconic, no notes 🔥

---

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Kernel file ./kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c printk_ringbuffer overview(9), prb_reserve_in_last(9), prb_reserve(9), prb_commit(9), prb_final_commit(9), prb_next_reserve_seq(9), prb_read_valid_info(9), prb_first_valid_seq(9), prb_next_seq(9), prb_init(9), prb_record_text_space(9) 💜

---

okay that's the whole page, you ate that bestie 💅✨ this one comes from ./kernel/printk, dated October 2026 — mwah, go read some ringbuffer records, ily 🎀🦋