STRUCT AUXILIARY_DRIVER(9)

💖 struct auxiliary_driver(9) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual — this is the page about struct auxiliary_driver, and yes it's giving main character energy in the driver world 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

struct auxiliary_driver — the literal definition of an auxiliary bus driver 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

struct auxiliary_driver {
    int (*probe)(struct auxiliary_device *auxdev, const struct
auxiliary_device_id *id);
    void (*remove)(struct auxiliary_device *auxdev);
    void (*shutdown)(struct auxiliary_device *auxdev);
    int (*suspend)(struct auxiliary_device *auxdev, pm_message_t state);
    int (*resume)(struct auxiliary_device *auxdev);
    const char *name;
    struct device_driver driver;
    const struct auxiliary_device_id *id_table;
 };

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🌸 Members 🌸

so this struct is basically a little friend group of function pointers and fields, and every single one is iconic in its own way 🫶

• probe — gets called when a matching device is added to the bus ✨ like, "ooh a new device, lemme check it out".
• remove — gets called when the device is removed from the bus 😭 the sad goodbye function.
• shutdown — gets called at shut-down time to quiesce the device 💀 quiet down, bestie, we're powering off.
• suspend — gets called to put the device into sleep mode 🌙 usually to a power state. nap time fr fr.
• resume — gets called to bring a device back from sleep mode ☀️ wakey wakey.
• name — the driver name 🎀 literally its whole identity.
• driver — the core driver structure 👑 the foundation underneath it all.
• id_table — the table of devices this driver should match on the bus 💖 the guest list, basically.

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🦋 Description 🦋

Auxiliary drivers follow the standard driver model convention — meaning discovery/enumeration is handled by the core, and the drivers themselves provide probe and remove methods ✨. That's the whole vibe: core does the finding, driver does the reacting.

They also support power management and shutdown notifications using the standard conventions 🌈.

Auxiliary drivers register themselves with the bus by calling auxiliary_driver_register 📞. The id_table contains the match_names of auxiliary devices that a driver can bind with 🔗.

static const struct auxiliary_device_id my_auxiliary_id_table[] = {
        { .name = "foo_mod.foo_dev" },
        {},
};

MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(auxiliary, my_auxiliary_id_table);

struct auxiliary_driver my_drv = {
        .name = "myauxiliarydrv",
        .id_table = my_auxiliary_id_table,
        .probe = my_drv_probe,
        .remove = my_drv_remove
};

like, this is THE example. memorize it, screenshot it, send it to the group chat 📸 iykyk.

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• Kernel file ./include/linux/auxiliary_bus.h
• DEVICE_LIFESPAN(9)
• struct auxiliary_device(9)
• module_auxiliary_driver(9)

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okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 💅 no cap. this one's from the ./include/linux source, version vibes of October 2026, and it's officially a struct auxiliary_driver(9) moment 🎀💖✨