ring_buffer_consume(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 ring_buffer_consume(9) 💅

okay so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual — yes the actual kernel manual, bestie, we're in the big leagues now — and it's all about one lil function that grabs you an event and then eats it. iconique behaviour honestly.

✨ NAME ✨

ring_buffer_consume — returns an event and then consumes it. like, gone. eaten. she ate and left no crumbs 💀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

struct ring_buffer_event * ring_buffer_consume (struct trace_buffer
*buffer , int cpu , u64 *ts , unsigned long *lost_events );

✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

  • buffer — the ring buffer you're pulling the next event out of. this is the main character of the whole operation 🫶
  • cpu — the cpu whose buffer you're reading from, bestie. you gotta say which one.
  • ts — a variable where the timestamp gets stashed. it may be NULL — no pressure, she's flexible ✨
  • lost_events — a variable that gets told whether any events were lost. also may be NULL, so you can literally just not care if you don't want to 🙈

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what she does is: returns the next event sitting in the ring buffer, and that event is consumed. like, fully claimed by you. not peeked, not borrowed — consumed.

which means 👏 sequential reads will keep handing you a different event every time, and if the producer over there is being slow, you'll eventually empty the ring buffer completely. she's a one-way ticket, no re-dos, no takesies-backsies. periodt. 💅

lowkey important: consumed means consumed. don't come crying later looking for that event again, because she is NOT coming back 😭

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

the kernel file lives at ./kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c btw, and here is the whole entire friend group — every single one of them, no cap, we're not skipping a single bestie:

🌸 that's it, that's the whole page!! go forth and consume responsibly bestie 🦋

signed off with love from ./kernel/trace, dated October 2026 — mwah, see u in the next manpage 💜✨

📦 where this page comes from