ubifs_compress(9)

💅 ubifs_compress(9) — the Kernel API Manual, but make it make sense ✨

okay bestie, this page lives in the Kernel API Manual and it's all about ubifs_compress — like, the queen of squishing data down to size 👑🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

ubifs_compress — compress data 🗜️💖

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void ubifs_compress (const struct ubifs_info *c , const void *in_buf ,
int in_len , void *out_buf , int *out_len , int *compr_type );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• c — the UBIFS file-system description object, aka the whole vibe check context for the filesystem 💫
• in_buf — the data you actually wanna compress 🍓
• in_len — how long that data is, in bytes 📏
• out_buf — the output buffer where the compressed data is supposed to land 🛬
• out_len — the output buffer length gets returned right here, so it's an out-param, not a suggestion 🙈
• compr_type — on the way in, it's the type of compression to use; on the way out, it's the compression type that actually got used 👀 (yes, it's a glow-up-in-place situation)

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so this function takes your input buffer in_buf of length in_len, does its little compression thing, and stores the result in the output buffer out_buf, with the resulting length going into out_len. iconic behavior, truly ✨

but here's the thing — if the input buffer does not compress (like, it just refuses to get smaller 😭), it's simply copied to the out_buf instead. no drama. and the exact same thing happens if compr_type is UBIFS_COMPR_NONE, or if a compression error occurred. so it always gives you something back, periodt 🫶

🚨 note bestie: if the input buffer was not compressed, it gets copied to the output buffer and UBIFS_COMPR_NONE is returned in compr_type. like, that's how you know no compression happened. track it. iykyk 💅

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• the kernel file ./fs/ubifs/compress.c
• ubifs_compress_folio(9)
• ubifs_decompress(9)
• ubifs_decompress_folio(9)
• compr_init(9)
• compr_exit(9)
• ubifs_compressors_init(9)
• ubifs_compressors_exit(9)

go read those too, they're lowkey all part of the same friend group 🧚💜

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! it's from ./fs/ubifs, dated October 2026, and it's literally titled ubifs_compress(9) — slay, no cap, ate and left no crumbs 💀🎀✨