vmw_translate_guest_ptr(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 vmw_translate_guest_ptr — the Kernel API Manual glow-up 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to vmw_translate_guest_ptr(9) from the Kernel API Manual — this is the little function that gets you ready to translate a user-space buffer handle into a valid SVGAGuestPtr, and honestly? it's giving backstage-pass energy ✨

✨ NAME ✨

vmw_translate_guest_ptr — prepare to translate a user-space buffer handle to a valid SVGAGuestPtr 💫

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int vmw_translate_guest_ptr (struct vmw_private *dev_priv , struct
vmw_sw_context *sw_context , SVGAGuestPtr *ptr , struct vmw_bo
**vmw_bo_p );

like, that's the whole signature, no cap 🔥

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

  • dev_priv — pointer to a device private structure 🫶 this is the main character of the hardware side of things.
  • sw_context — the software context used for this command batch validation. yes queen, it's the one doing all the checking 👑
  • ptr — pointer to the user-space handle that's getting translated 💅
  • vmw_bo_p — points to a location that, on successful return, will carry a non-reference-counted pointer to the DMA buffer identified by the user-space handle in id ⭐ (ngl, that "non-reference-counted" part matters — don't go freeing this thing like it's yours 😭)

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what this function actually does is save the information needed to translate a user-space buffer handle into a valid SVGAGuestPtr. and here's the tea: the translation does not happen immediately 🫖 it happens later, during a call to vmw_apply_relocations. so it's less "do the thing" and more "set the thing up so it can be done later," iykyk ✨

it also builds two lists, and you literally have to clean up both of them or it's messy-girl behavior:

  • a relocation list — this one needs to be freed using either vmw_apply_relocations or vmw_free_relocations 💀
  • a list of buffers to validate — this one needs to be freed using vmw_clear_validations 🧚
okay but fr fr, remember both cleanups. the vibes will not survive a leaked list 😭

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

all the linked lore lives in the kernel file ./drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_execbuf.c — go read the whole friend group 🫶

that's the whole page bestie, you ate it up 👑💅

sign-off time: this little beauty comes from ./drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx, dated October 2026, and you can find it filed under vmw_translate_guest_ptr(9) 🎀✨💖

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