unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock(9)

💅 unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock(9) — like, the whole Kernel API Manual moment

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Kernel API Manual, and it's about unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock(9), which is genuinely the "let go of my hand and also maybe smudge it" of kernel functions. buckle up 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock — release and optionally dirty gup-pinned pages 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock (struct page **pages , unsigned long
npages , bool make_dirty );

that's it, that's the whole vibe check 💖

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• pages — array of pages to be maybe marked dirty, and definitely released. like, the "we are SO done here" list, no cap.
• npages — number of pages in the pages array. just a count, she's doing her job 🙈
• make_dirty — whether to mark the pages dirty. a bool, so it's giving yes/no, on/off, iconic/also iconic 💅

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🔥 DESCRIPTION 🔥

a "gup-pinned page" refers to a page that has had one of the get_user_pages variants called on that page. that's the whole definition, periodt.

so here's the tea: for each page in the pages array, make that page (or its head page, if a compound page) dirty — but only if make_dirty is true, and only if the page was previously listed as clean. conditional queen 👑

in any case, releases all pages using unpin_user_page, possibly via unpin_user_pages, for the non-dirty case. either way they get freed, bestie, no page left behind 💀

please see the unpin_user_page documentation for details. (iykyk — go read it, it's right there)

set_page_dirty_lock is used internally. and if instead set_page_dirty is required, then the caller should:

1. a) verify that this is really correct, because _lock is usually required — like fr fr, do not skip this, this is the "are you SURE" step 😭
2. b) hand code it:

set_page_dirty_lock, unpin_user_page

that's literally the line, I'm not even joking, that's what it says 🫡

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Kernel file ./mm/gup.c — and honestly the whole friend group showed up:

• try_grab_folio(9)
• unpin_user_page(9)
• unpin_folio(9)
• folio_add_pin(9)
• unpin_user_page_range_dirty_lock(9)
• unpin_user_pages(9)
• unpin_user_folio(9)
• unpin_folios(9)
• try_grab_folio_fast(9)
• follow_page_mask(9)
• __get_user_pages(9)
• fixup_user_fault(9)
• populate_vma_page_range(9)
• fault_in_writeable(9)
• fault_in_subpage_writeable(9)
• fault_in_readable(9)
• get_dump_page(9)
• get_user_pages_remote(9)
• get_user_pages(9)
• get_user_pages_fast_only(9)
• get_user_pages_fast(9)
• pin_user_pages_fast(9)
• pin_user_pages_remote(9)
• pin_user_pages(9)
• memfd_pin_folios(9)
• folio_add_pins(9)

like, twenty-six entries, she brought the entire group chat 🧚💜

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okay that's the page!! this iconic lil doc lives in ./mm, dated October 2026, and it answers to the name unpin_user_pages_dirty_lock(9) — go forth and unpin responsibly, bestie 🌸✨🎀