STRUCT PINCTRL_DESC(9)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so welcome to struct pinctrl_desc — it's literally the pin controller descriptor, and the whole point is that you register this bad boy with the pin control subsystem 🎀 That's it. That's the vibe. It's the little form you fill out so the kernel knows who your pin controller is and what it can do 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

no cap, here's the actual shape of it, every field, nothing skipped:

struct pinctrl_desc {
    const char *name;
    const struct pinctrl_pin_desc *pins;
    unsigned int npins;
    const struct pinctrl_ops *pctlops;
    const struct pinmux_ops *pmxops;
    const struct pinconf_ops *confops;
    struct module *owner;
  #ifdef CONFIG_GENERIC_PINCONF;
    unsigned int num_custom_params;
    const struct pinconf_generic_params *custom_params;
    const struct pin_config_item *custom_conf_items;
  #endif;
    bool link_consumers;
 };

🦋 Members 🦋

bestie, let's go through the members one by one, main character energy only:

• name — the name for the pin controller. its whole identity, honestly 👑
• pins — an array of pin descriptors describing all the pins handled by this pin controller. the full cast, not just the ensemble 🌈
• npins — number of descriptors in the array, usually just ARRAY_SIZE of the pins field above. classic, lowkey the easiest way to fill it in 🍓
• pctlops — pin control operation vtable, there to support global concepts like grouping of pins. this one is optional ✨
• pmxops — pinmux operations vtable, so set this if you support pinmuxing in your driver 💪
• confops — pin config operations vtable, set it if you support pin configuration in your driver 🎀
• owner — module providing the pin controller, used for refcounting. gotta keep the refcount honest fr fr 🔥
• num_custom_params — Number of driver-specific custom parameters to be parsed from the hardware description 🧚
• custom_params — List of driver_specific custom parameters to be parsed from the hardware description 🦋
• custom_conf_items — Information how to print params in debugfs, must be the same size as the custom_params, i.e. num_custom_params. like, they have to match, no cap ⭐
• link_consumers — If true create a device link between pinctrl and its consumers (i.e. the devices requesting pin control states). This is sometimes necessary to ascertain the right suspend/resume order for example 😴⏰

heads up: those three custom fields only exist inside #ifdef CONFIG_GENERIC_PINCONF — so if that config isn't on, they're simply not there, periodt 🙈

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

go read these next, iykyk:

• Kernel file ./include/linux/pinctrl/pinctrl.h struct pingroup(9), struct pinctrl_pin_desc(9), struct pinctrl_gpio_range(9), struct pinctrl_ops(9), struct pinfunction(9) 💜

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅 this lil drop comes from ./include/linux/pinctrl, dated October 2026, and it's the struct pinctrl_desc(9) moment — go register your pin controller bestie, the subsystem is waiting 🫶✨