wait_event_i...ible_timeout(9)

💤 wait_event_i...ible_timeout(9) — the Kernel API Manual tea, bestie ✨

Okay so real talk, the page header literally says wait_event_i...ible_timeout(9) from the Kernel API Manual, and that's our whole main character for today. Buckle up, we're going to sleep (but like, interruptibly 💅).

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

wait_event_interruptible_timeout — she sleeps until a condition gets true or a timeout elapses. Whichever comes first, queen behavior fr fr.

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

wait_event_interruptible_timeout (wq_head , condition , timeout );

---

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• wq_head — the waitqueue to wait on. Like, this is the group chat you're lurking in 👀
• condition — a C expression for the event to wait for. The "am I unblocked yet?" vibe check ✨
• timeout — timeout, in jiffies. Yes bestie, jiffies. Not seconds. Not vibes. Jiffies 🕰️

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So what actually happens: the process gets put to sleep — and ngl, she's in TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE mode, which is the fancy way of saying "asleep but still answering texts" — until the condition evaluates to true or a signal is received 💖

The condition gets checked each and every time the waitqueue wq_head is woken up. Every single time. Not me refreshing the timeline 📱

⚠️ Warning bestie, this one matters: wake_up has to be called after changing any variable that could change the result of the wait condition. Skip that and you're literally ghosting your own waitqueue 💀

---

🔥 RETURN 🔥

Here's the receipts, and yes, every single one:

• 0 — if the condition evaluated to false after the timeout elapsed 🫠
• 1 — if the condition evaluated to true after the timeout elapsed 🎉
• the remaining jiffies (at least 1) — if the condition evaluated to true before the timeout elapsed ⏳ (and yes, at least 1, they said what they said)
• -ERESTARTSYS — if it was interrupted by a signal 😭 rude but okay

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Kernel file ./include/linux/wait.h, and literally the entire waitqueue friend group — slay:

• waitqueue_active(9), wq_has_single_sleeper(9), wq_has_sleeper(9), wake_up_pollfree(9)
• wait_event(9), wait_event_freezable(9), wait_event_timeout(9), wait_event_cmd(9)
• wait_event_interruptible(9), wait_event_hrtimeout(9), wait_event_interruptible_hrtimeout(9)
• wait_event_idle(9), wait_event_idle_exclusive(9), wait_event_idle_timeout(9), wait_event_idle_exclusive_timeout(9)
• wait_event_interruptible_locked(9), wait_event_interruptible_locked_irq(9)
• wait_event_interruptible_exclusive_locked(9), wait_event_interruptible_exclusive_locked_irq(9)
• wait_event_killable(9), wait_event_state(9), wait_event_killable_timeout(9)
• wait_event_lock_irq_cmd(9), wait_event_lock_irq(9)
• wait_event_interruptible_lock_irq_cmd(9), wait_event_interruptible_lock_irq(9), wait_event_interruptible_lock_irq_timeout(9)

---

Okay that's the whole page bestie, no cap, nothing skipped 💖 This icon lives at ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and its manual tag is forever wait_event_i...ible_timeout(9) — periodt 🫶✨🎀