STRUCT DEVICE_LINK(9)

💅 struct device_link(9) 💅

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual ✨ — today's main character is struct device_link, and honestly? it's giving relationship goals but make it kernel plumbing 🫶 this little struct is literally the representation of a device link, and we're gonna go through it line by line, no cap 💖

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🌸 NAME 🌸

struct device_link — Device link representation. ✨

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

like, here's the whole vibe, verbatim, do not touch the formatting bestie 😭

struct device_link {
    struct device *supplier;
    struct list_head s_node;
    struct device *consumer;
    struct list_head c_node;
    struct device link_dev;
    enum device_link_state status;
    u32 flags;
    refcount_t rpm_active;
    struct kref kref;
    struct work_struct rm_work;
    bool supplier_preactivated;
 };

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💖 Members 💖

okay so each of these fields has lore, and we're gonna respect the lore 🧚

• supplier — the device on the supplier end of the link. like, the one doing the supplying 💅
• s_node — hook to the supplier device's list of links to consumers. it's the supplier's little hookup list 🔥
• consumer — the device on the consumer end of the link. the one receiving, the one being fed 🍓
• c_node — hook to the consumer device's list of links to suppliers. same energy, other direction ⭐
• link_dev — device used to expose link details in sysfs. yes, sysfs gets to peek 🙈
• status — the state of the link (with respect to the presence of drivers). the whole driver-presence vibe check 👑
• flags — Link flags. that's it, that's the description, iconic 🌈
• rpm_active — whether or not the consumer device is runtime-PM-active. is the consumer awake? that's the question 💀
• kref — count repeated addition of the same link. keeps track of how many times you added the exact same link, no duplicates sneaking past 🦋
• rm_work — work structure used for removing the link. cleanup era, we love to see it 🎀
• supplier_preactivated — Supplier has been made active before consumer probe. yes it got activated first, it was early, it was that girl 💜

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💀 SEE ALSO 💀

the whole friend group 🫶 the kernel file is ./include/linux/device.h, and here's everyone hanging out with it:

• struct subsys_interface(9)
• struct device_attribute(9)
• struct dev_ext_attribute(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_RW(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_ADMIN_RW(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_RW_NAMED(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_RO(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_ADMIN_RO(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_RO_NAMED(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_WO(9)
• DEVICE_ATTR_WO_NAMED(9)
• DEVICE_ULONG_ATTR(9)
• DEVICE_INT_ATTR(9)
• DEVICE_BOOL_ATTR(9)
• DEVICE_STRING_ATTR_RO(9)
• enum device_link_state(9)
• enum dl_dev_state(9)
• enum device_removable(9)
• struct dev_links_info(9)
• struct dev_msi_info(9)
• enum device_physical_location_panel(9)
• enum device_physical_location_vertical_position(9)
• enum device_physical_location_horizontal_position(9)
• struct device_physical_location(9)
• enum struct_device_flags(9)
• struct device(9)
• device_set_driver_override(9)
• device_has_driver_override(9)
• device_match_driver_override(9)
• device_iommu_mapped(9)
• dev_name(9)
• dev_bus_name(9)
• device_find_child_by_name(9)
• device_find_any_child(9)
• device_lock_set_class(9)
• device_lock_reset_class(9)

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and that's the whole page, periodt 💅✨ this came from ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and it's literally titled struct device_link(9) — go forth and link your devices responsibly bestie 😭🫶🎀