refcount_dec_not_one(9)

🦋 refcount_dec_not_one(9) — like, the manual page 💅

okay so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, section 9 of the man pages, and it's all about refcount_dec_not_one, bestie. buckle up 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

refcount_dec_not_one — decrement a refcount if it is not 1

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bool refcount_dec_not_one (refcount_t *r );

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💜 ARGUMENTS 💜

• r — the refcount. that's it, that's the whole argument. she's low maintenance 💅

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🧚 DESCRIPTION 🧚

so here's the vibe: there is no atomic_t counterpart for this one. none. doesn't exist. it's giving main character energy, she's one of a kind ✨

what she does is decrement the refcount unless the value is 1 — and in that case she just... doesn't, and returns false. like, nope, not touching that one, bye 🙈

back in the day people used to do this same thing by hand, and it looked like this:

atomic_add_unless(var, -1, 1)

iconic behaviour, honestly. but now we have a whole function for it, slay 👑

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

• true — the decrement operation was successful 🎉
• false — otherwise 💀

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• the kernel file ./lib/refcount.c
• refcount_dec_if_one(9)
• refcount_dec_and_mutex_lock(9)
• refcount_dec_and_lock(9)
• refcount_dec_and_lock_irqsave(9)

like, go read those too, they're the friend group 🫶

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ngl if you skimmed this: she decrements unless it's 1, returns false when it's 1, true when she actually decremented. no cap. 🍓

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and that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this one came out of ./lib in October 2026, so go forth and refcount responsibly 🌈⭐💜