include/linux/cdev.h

File Facts

System

Linux kernel

Corpus path

include/linux/cdev.h

Extension

.h

Size

845 bytes

Lines

40

Domain

Core OS

Bucket

Core Kernel Interface

Inferred role

Core OS: operation-table or driver-model contract

Status

pattern implementation candidate

Why This File Exists

Core operating-system implementation surface: boot, tasks, memory, VFS, syscall-facing interfaces, synchronization, credentials, and isolation.

• Core operating-system implementation surface: boot, tasks, memory, VFS, syscall-facing interfaces, synchronization, credentials, and isolation.
• Defines an operation table; this is where Linux turns generic core objects into subsystem-specific behavior.
• Defines or uses C structs; map object ownership, embedded links, reference counts, and lock ownership.

Dependency Surface

• linux/kobject.h
• linux/kdev_t.h
• linux/list.h
• linux/device.h

Detected Declarations

• struct file_operations
• struct inode
• struct module
• struct cdev

Annotated Snippet

struct file_operations;
struct inode;
struct module;

struct cdev {
	struct kobject kobj;
	struct module *owner;
	const struct file_operations *ops;
	struct list_head list;
	dev_t dev;
	unsigned int count;
} __randomize_layout;

void cdev_init(struct cdev *, const struct file_operations *);

struct cdev *cdev_alloc(void);

void cdev_put(struct cdev *p);

int cdev_add(struct cdev *, dev_t, unsigned);

void cdev_set_parent(struct cdev *p, struct kobject *kobj);
int cdev_device_add(struct cdev *cdev, struct device *dev);
void cdev_device_del(struct cdev *cdev, struct device *dev);

void cdev_del(struct cdev *);

void cd_forget(struct inode *);

#endif

Annotation

• Immediate include surface: `linux/kobject.h`, `linux/kdev_t.h`, `linux/list.h`, `linux/device.h`.
• Detected declarations: `struct file_operations`, `struct inode`, `struct module`, `struct cdev`.
• Atlas domain: Core OS / Core Kernel Interface.
• Implementation status: pattern implementation candidate.

Implementation Notes

• This generated page is the file-by-file coverage layer; curated subsystem chapters should link here when they synthesize a multi-file control flow.
• Core OS pages should be promoted from atlas-only to deep-reviewed when they explain data structures, invariants, locking, lifecycle, and C implementation snippets.
• Driver-family pages are intentionally pattern-oriented unless they are part of the selected PCIe/NVMe representative device path.