include/linux/miscdevice.h

File Facts

System

Linux kernel

Corpus path

include/linux/miscdevice.h

Extension

.h

Size

3467 bytes

Lines

117

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/major.h
• linux/list.h
• linux/types.h
• linux/device.h

Detected Declarations

• struct miscdevice

Annotated Snippet

const struct file_operations *fops;
	struct list_head list;
	struct device *parent;
	struct device *this_device;
	const struct attribute_group **groups;
	const char *nodename;
	umode_t mode;
};

extern int misc_register(struct miscdevice *misc);
extern void misc_deregister(struct miscdevice *misc);

/*
 * Helper macro for drivers that don't do anything special in the initcall.
 * This helps to eliminate boilerplate code.
 */
#define builtin_misc_device(__misc_device) \
	builtin_driver(__misc_device, misc_register)

/*
 * Helper macro for drivers that don't do anything special in module init / exit
 * call. This helps to eliminate boilerplate code.
 */
#define module_misc_device(__misc_device) \
	module_driver(__misc_device, misc_register, misc_deregister)

#define MODULE_ALIAS_MISCDEV(minor)				\
	MODULE_ALIAS("char-major-" __stringify(MISC_MAJOR)	\
	"-" __stringify(minor))
#endif

Annotation

• Immediate include surface: `linux/major.h`, `linux/list.h`, `linux/types.h`, `linux/device.h`.
• Detected declarations: `struct miscdevice`.
• 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.