watchdog_cdev_register(9)

💖 NAME 💖

Okay bestie, this is the Kernel API Manual entry for watchdog_cdev_register(9) — the function that registers a watchdog character device. Yes, the name is literally doing the most and telling you what it does. We love an icon. 🐶✨

watchdog_cdev_register — register watchdog character device.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Here's the signature, copy it exactly, no freestyling:

int watchdog_cdev_register (struct watchdog_device *wdd );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• wdd — Watchdog device. That's the one and only argument, bestie. 🫶

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Register a watchdog character device, including handling the legacy /dev/watchdog node. And plot twist: /dev/watchdog is actually a miscdevice, so we set it up like that. No cap, that's the whole deal. 💅

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⭐ RETURN ⭐

0 if successful, error otherwise. So if you get 0, slay; if not, it's giving error. 😭

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Kernel file ./drivers/watchdog/watchdog_dev.c — that's the spot, iykyk. And these related pages are the whole friend group:

• watchdog_ping(9)
• watchdog_start(9)
• watchdog_stop(9)
• watchdog_get_status(9)
• watchdog_set_timeout(9)
• watchdog_set_pretimeout(9)
• watchdog_get_timeleft(9)
• watchdog_ioctl_op(9)
• watchdog_write(9)
• watchdog_ioctl(9)
• watchdog_open(9)
• watchdog_release(9)
• watchdog_cdev_unregister(9)
• watchdog_dev_register(9)
• watchdog_dev_unregister(9)
• watchdog_set_last_hw_keepalive(9)
• watchdog_dev_init(9)
• watchdog_dev_exit(9)

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That's it, bestie! Source/version: ./drivers/watchdog · date: October 2026 · you've been reading watchdog_cdev_register(9). Byeee, go register something cute. 🫶💖🎀