try_module_get(9)

🦋 try_module_get(9) — the "can I pls have a ref, but like, only if you're not dying" situation

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, and it's about try_module_get(9) — genuinely one of those little functions that saves your whole entire life if you use it right 💖

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✨ NAME ✨

try_module_get — take module refcount unless module is being removed

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bool try_module_get (struct module *module );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• module — the module we should check for

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So here's the vibe: only try to get a module reference count if the module is not being removed. Like, this call will fail if the module is in the process of being removed. Periodt. 💀

And ngl, you also have to be careful to make sure the module actually exists and is alive prior to using this call. You can guarantee that through two means:

1. Direct protection — you know an earlier caller must have increased the module reference through __module_get. Typically you get this by having another entity other than the module itself increment the module reference count. iykyk 🫶
2. Implied protection — there's an implied protection against module removal. Example: the implied protection used by kernfs / sysfs. The sysfs store / read file operations are guaranteed to exist through the use of kernfs's active reference (see kernfs_active), and a sysfs / kernfs file removal cannot happen unless the same file is not active. So therefore, if a sysfs file is being read or written to, the module which created it must still exist. Which means it is therefore safe to use try_module_get on module sysfs store / read ops. slay ✨

One of the real values to try_module_get is the module_is_live check, which ensures that the caller of try_module_get can yield to userspace module removal requests and gracefully fail if the module is on its way out. Like, it fails pretty instead of exploding 💅

Returns true if the reference count was successfully incremented. 🌈

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• Kernel file ./include/linux/module.h
• module_init(9), module_exit(9), struct klp_modinfo(9), module_put(9)

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and that's the whole page bestie!! it lives in ./include/linux, dated October 2026 — go forth and increment responsibly, you absolute icon 👑💜