STRUCT WMI_DRIVER(9)

💖 struct wmi_driver(9) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the struct wmi_driver(9) page from the Kernel API Manual — this is the whole entire vibe of what a WMI driver looks like in the kernel, and honestly? it's giving "backbone of the operation" energy. no cap. 🌈

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✨ NAME ✨

struct wmi_driver — the WMI driver structure itself, the main character 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

struct wmi_driver {
    struct device_driver driver;
    const struct wmi_device_id *id_table;
    size_t min_event_size;
    bool no_singleton;
    int (*probe)(struct wmi_device *wdev, const void *context);
    void (*remove)(struct wmi_device *wdev);
    void (*shutdown)(struct wmi_device *wdev);
    void (*notify)(struct wmi_device *device, union acpi_object *data);
    void (*notify_new)(struct wmi_device *device, const struct wmi_buffer *data);
 };

like, look at her. so structured. so composed. she ate. 🔥

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🎀 Members 🎀

• driver — the driver model structure. lowkey the foundation of the whole thing, the scaffolding, the bones, iykyk. 🫶
• id_table — the list of WMI GUIDs this driver supports, aka her little roster of faves she's willing to work with ✨
• min_event_size — the minimum event payload size this driver can handle — think of it as her boundary, and honestly? respect it 💅
• no_singleton — lets you know the driver can be instantiated multiple times. yes bestie, she can be in multiple group chats at once 😭
• probe — the callback for device binding. this is the "omg hi, we're doing this" moment 🫶
• remove — the callback for device unbinding. the "it's not you, it's the kernel" moment 💀
• shutdown — the callback for device shutdown. the graceful goodbye, the poetic exit 🦋
• notify — the callback for receiving WMI events. deprecated, so like... she's iconic but she's retired, pls use notify_new 🙈
• notify_new — the callback for receiving WMI events. the current fave, the upgrade, the glow-up 👑

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💜 Description 💜

so this struct represents WMI drivers that handle WMI devices — that's the whole point of her, periodt.

here's the tea you actually need to know: the data inside the buffer passed to the notify_new callback is guaranteed to be aligned on a 8-byte boundary. yes fr fr, alignment is handled, you don't gotta worry about it.

the minimum supported size for said buffer can be specified using min_event_size — set your floor, bestie, know your worth.

and for the WMI drivers that are still using the deprecated notify callback: they can still set min_event_size to 0 to signal that they support WMI events that provide no event data. zero means "empty is fine", no shame in it 🫶

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🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

• kernel file ./include/linux/wmi.h
• struct wmi_device(9)
• to_wmi_device(9)
• struct wmi_buffer(9)
• struct wmi_string(9)
• to_wmi_driver(9)
• wmi_driver_register(9)
• module_wmi_driver(9)

like a whole little friend group of related man pages. go say hi to all of them 💖

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reminder bestie: notify is deprecated. i'm not being dramatic, the page says it, so it's real. use notify_new and set your min_event_size accordingly 💅

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⭐ cute little sign-off: this page lives in ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and comes to you as part of the Kernel API Manual — struct wmi_driver(9), forever iconic, mwah 🎀✨🦋