wait_event_interruptible(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

👑 wait_event_interruptible — the kernel API manual, bestie edition 💅

okay so real talk, this page is wait_event_interruptible(9) from the Kernel API Manual (section 9, iykyk) — and it's literally the "go to sleep but wake up if someone pokes you" function. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

wait_event_interruptible — sleep until a condition gets true 😴➡️✅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

wait_event_interruptible (wq_head , condition );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

  • wq_head — the waitqueue you're gonna wait on. that's the spot you're camping out at, babe ⛺
  • condition — a C expression for the event you're waiting for. the "am I awake yet?" check 💭

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the process gets put to sleep — specifically in TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE state — until either the condition evaluates to true ✨ or a signal shows up 📬. and the condition gets checked every single time the waitqueue wq_head is woken up. every time. no cap.

the important bit, do not skip this: wake_up has to be called after changing any variable that could change the result of the wait condition. like, you change the thing, you call wake_up. that's the deal. fr fr 🔥

the function returns -ERESTARTSYS if it got interrupted by a signal 😭, and 0 if condition evaluated to true 🎉.

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

kernel file ./include/linux/wait.h, plus the whole friend group:

and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you straight out of ./include/linux, dated October 2026, slaying as always 🌈💖 periodt.

📦 where this page comes from