wdtpci_write(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, this page is all about wdtpci_write — that's wdtpci_write(9) from the Kernel API Manual, section 9, the kernel API girlies ✨

and like… the original literally leaves the description blank?? no cap, it's just wdtpci_write -. that's the whole vibe. mysterious. iconic. main character energy 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

here's the whole signature, copy it exactly, don't @ me:

ssize_t wdtpci_write (struct file *file , const char __user *buf ,
size_t count , loff_t *ppos );

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

okay so these are the four things it takes, one by one:

  • file — the file handle to the watchdog, like the lil' connection to the watchdog device itself 🐶
  • buf — the buffer you're writing from (and lowkey it's unused, because the data does not matter here 🙈)
  • count — the count of bytes
  • ppos — pointer to the position to write. no seeks allowed, periodt 🚫

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea ☕ a write to a watchdog device is defined as a keepalive signal. that's it. that's the whole job.

any write of data will do — literally any of it — because we don't define content meaning. the bytes are just there to say "hey bestie, still alive 🫶" and the watchdog is like "slay, noted" 🔥

so like, don't stress about what you're writing. the what is irrelevant, the that you wrote at all is the whole point. it's giving "just show up" energy 💜

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

kernel file ./drivers/watchdog/wdt_pci.c — and the whole friend group of functions that live with it:

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅 go write some bytes to a watchdog and keep the vibe alive 🐶💖

and finally, the cute lil' sign-off: this one's from ./drivers/watchdog, dated October 2026 — see you then, bestie 🌈⭐

📦 where this page comes from