profile_cmp(9)

💅 profile_cmp(9) — or, "how do we even order these profiles bestie"

okay so this page lives in the Kernel API Manual (section 9, kernel-adjacent girlies rise) and it's all about profile_cmp — the lil function that decides how profiles get ordered in a set. Think of it as the vibe-check bouncer for the set ordering line 💖

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✨ NAME ✨

profile_cmp — profile comparison for set ordering 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int profile_cmp (struct aa_profile *a , struct aa_profile *b );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• a — the profile to compare (and like… it is NOT NULL, bestie, do not come for her with a NULL, she will not survive it 🙈)
• b — the other profile to compare (also NOT NULL, same energy, no NULLs allowed periodt 💀)

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

the return value is giving "three-way comparison" and here's the whole tea:

• <0 when a < b
• ==0 when a == b
• >0 when a > b

like yes, that's it, that's the whole slay — sign of the result tells you who ranks first 🔥

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

this is the friend group, the whole squad, the group chat, and honestly they're all iconic. Kernel file ./security/apparmor/label.c is where the source lives btw:

• ns_cmp(9)
• vec_cmp(9)
• aa_vec_unique(9)
• aa_label_alloc(9)
• label_cmp(9)
• __aa_label_next_not_in_set(9)
• aa_label_is_subset(9)
• aa_label_is_unconfined_subset(9)
• __label_remove(9)
• __label_replace(9)
• __label_insert(9)
• __vec_find(9)
• __label_find(9)
• aa_label_remove(9)
• aa_label_replace(9)
• vec_find(9)
• aa_label_insert(9)
• aa_label_next_in_merge(9)
• label_merge_cmp(9)
• label_merge_insert(9)
• labelset_of_merge(9)
• __label_find_merge(9)
• aa_label_find_merge(9)
• aa_label_merge(9)
• label_compound_match(9)
• label_components_match(9)
• aa_label_match(9)
• aa_update_label_name(9)
• aa_profile_snxprint(9)
• aa_label_snxprint(9)
• aa_label_asxprint(9)
• aa_label_acntsxprint(9)
• aa_label_strn_parse(9)
• aa_labelset_destroy(9)
• __label_update(9)
• __labelset_update(9)
• __aa_labelset_update_subtree(9)

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💡 tiny reminder bestie: a and b are both marked NOT NULL, so no funny business, no sneaky NULLs, mkay? the docs said it in all caps for a reason 😭

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okay that's the whole page, and before you go — the source path is ./security/apparmor and this edition is dated October 2026 🌈 so like, yes, a little time-travel moment, we love that for us. mwah, go order some profiles 💜🦋