suse man page for device_add

DEVICE_ADD(9)						   Device drivers infrastructure					     DEVICE_ADD(9)

NAME
       device_add - add device to device hierarchy.

SYNOPSIS
       int device_add(struct device * dev);

ARGUMENTS
       dev
	   device.

DESCRIPTION
       This is part 2 of device_register, though may be called separately _iff_ device_initialize has been called separately.

       This adds dev to the kobject hierarchy via kobject_add, adds it to the global and sibling lists for the device, then adds it to the other
       relevant subsystems of the driver model.

NOTE
       _Never_ directly free dev after calling this function, even if it returned an error! Always use put_device to give up your reference
       instead.

COPYRIGHT
Kernel Hackers Manual 2.6.					     July 2010							     DEVICE_ADD(9)