GETNEWVNODE(9)

✨ GETNEWVNODE(9) ✨

okay so bestie, we're in the Kernel Developer's Manual today, and the star of the show is getnewvnode 💫 it lives in section 9, it's giving very much "I make vnodes exist", and honestly? iconic.

🦋 NAME 🦋

getnewvnode — get a new vnode 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/vnode.h>
#include <sys/mount.h>

int
getnewvnode(const char *tag, struct mount *mp, vop_t **vops,
    struct vnode **vpp);

no cap, that's the whole vibe. four includes-adjacent things, one function, and a return type of int 💅

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so like, getnewvnode() initializes a new vnode and hands it the vnode operations you passed in through vops. slay.

and where does this baby vnode come from? okay so it depends 👀 — the vnode is either freshly allocated, or taken from the head of the free list, and which one happens depends on the number of vnodes already in the system. it's giving resource management realness.

the arguments to getnewvnode() are, in order:

• tag — the file system type string 🌈 lowkey important detail: this field should only be referenced for debugging or for userland utilities. that's it. that's the whole job.
• mp — the mount point you're adding the new vnode to 🫶
• vops — the vnode operations to assign to the new vnode. the personality, if you will 💖
• vpp — points to the new vnode upon successful completion. that's your little prize at the end ✨

💀 RETURN VALUES 💀

getnewvnode() returns 0 on success 🎉 simple as that.

and as for failure? bestie, there are currently no failure conditions — that do not result in a panic. 😭 read that again. it's not "no failure conditions", it's "no failure conditions that don't panic". so like. it works or the kernel has a whole moment. periodt.

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

this manual page was written by Chad David <davidc@acns.ab.ca> 💜 ty king

and that's the whole page!! this Debian-flavored copy is dated November 21, 2001, so yeah it's vintage but it still ate 🍓 go forth and allocate responsibly, mwah 💋💅