pty_common_install(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 NAME 🌸

pty_common_install — the function that sets up the pty pair, bestie 💅

(this is from the Kernel API Manual, if you were wondering where the vibe came from ✨)

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

int pty_common_install (struct tty_driver *driver , struct tty_struct
       *tty , bool legacy );

okay so it returns an int, iconic, and it takes three things. let's get into them 👑

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • driver — the pty driver, literally the whole driver struct, she's the main character here
  • tty — the tty that's being instantiated rn, the baby tty if you will 🍼
  • legacy — a bool, and it's true when this is BSD style. that's the whole vibe check on this one

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So what does she actually do? She performs the initial set up for the tty/pty pair 🫶. That's it, that's the job. The tty layer calls her when the port is first opened — so like, first-open energy only, don't come at her later expecting the same thing, iykyk 🙈

⚠️ Locking, and this is not a drill: the caller must hold the tty_mutex 🔒. Not optional, not a suggestion, not a "she'll be right". If you're calling this without that lock held, you're doing it wrong and the kernel will know 😭

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Kernel file ./drivers/tty/pty.c — and the whole friend group:

go read them too fr fr, they all hang out in the same file 📂

okay that's the whole page bestie, no gatekeeping here 💖 this one's living in ./drivers/tty and she's dated October 2026, and the page itself is pty_common_install(9) — go off, king 👑💅

📦 where this page comes from