ssam_client_link(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, section 9 (the kernel API girlies ✨). Its whole personality is "link an arbitrary client device to the controller" — and honestly? iconic behaviour. Let's get into it 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int ssam_client_link (struct ssam_controller *c , struct device *client );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • c — the controller you're linking to, bestie. the provider of the whole situation.
  • client — the client device. the consumer. the main character of this link 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So what it does is literally link an arbitrary client device to the controller by creating a device link between them — with the client as the consumer and the controller device as the provider. no cap, that's the whole vibe 🦋

And the reason this exists? It's for non-SSAM devices (or SSAM devices that aren't registered as a child under the controller) to guarantee two things:

  • that the controller is valid for as long as the driver of the client device is bound 🔥
  • and that proper suspend and resume ordering is guaranteed ⭐
💀 the good news: you do not have to destruct the device link manually. It gets removed automatically once the driver of the client device unbinds. slay, it cleans up after itself. self-care queen 🧚

💖 RETURN 💖

  • zero on success — we love a clean win 😭✨
  • -ENODEV if the controller is not ready or is going to be removed soon — she's not available, respectfully 🙈
  • -ENOMEM if the device link could not be created for other reasons — memory said no 🍓

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Kernel file ./drivers/platform/surface/aggregator/core.c

go read those too, iykyk 👑

💅 okay that's the whole page, bestie — no notes, she ate. this one came from ./drivers/platform/surface/agg..., dated October 2026, and it's filed under ssam_client_link(9). mwah 💋🌸

📦 where this page comes from