suse man page for device_initialize

DEVICE_INITIALIZE(9)					   Device drivers infrastructure				      DEVICE_INITIALIZE(9)

NAME
       device_initialize - init device structure.

SYNOPSIS
       void device_initialize(struct device * dev);

ARGUMENTS
       dev
	   device.

DESCRIPTION
       This prepares the device for use by other layers by initializing its fields. It is the first half of device_register, if called by that
       function, though it can also be called separately, so one may use dev's fields. In particular, get_device/put_device may be used for
       reference counting of dev after calling this function.

NOTE
       Use put_device to give up your reference instead of freeing dev directly once you have called this function.

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