Ubuntu Manpage: cdw - front-end for cdrecord, mkisofs, growisofs, mkudffs and other tools

NAME

       cdw - front-end for cdrecord, mkisofs, growisofs, mkudffs and other tools

SYNOPSIS

       cdw [--help] [--version] [--enable-dvd-rp-dl] [--escdelay=X]

DESCRIPTION

       cdw  is  a front-end for command-line tools used for burning data CD and DVD discs and for related tasks.
       The tools are: cdrecord/wodim, mkisofs/genisoimage, growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, dvd+rw-format,  xorriso.
       You  can  also  use cdw to rip tracks from your audio CD to raw audio files.  Limited support for copying
       content of CD and DVD discs to image files is also provided. cdw can utilize  md5sum  program  to  verify
       correctness  of writing ISO image to CD and DVD disc. cdw can be also used to create UDF image file using
       mkudffs.

       cdw uses ncurses library to build user-friendly interface and it can be used in UNIX terminal window  and
       in terminal emulator (like konsole, rxvt or gnome-console) in X environment.

       cdw  supports  ISO9660  file  system for optical media: ISO9660 file system can be written to stand-alone
       .iso file, or burned to optical disc.  cdw also supports UDF file system: UDF file system can be  written
       to  stand-alone  .udf file. Currently there is no support for burning UDF file system directly to optical
       disc.  Other filesystem for optical media are not supported nor recognized.

SUPPORTED MEDIA

Scope of supported features depends on which tools are installed on end user's system. Full list of
supported media and actions is listed below.

CD-AUDIO
ripping audio tracks to raw audio files

CD-R writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session) with cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying
content of first session to image file on your hard disc

CD-RW writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session), erasing (erasing only TOC or blanking
whole disc) with cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying content of first session to image file on
your hard disc

DVD-R, DVD+R
writing files and ISO images (multi-session, but without closing disc, or single-session) with
cdrecord/wodim, dvd+rw-tools and xorriso

DVD-RW writing files and ISO images (multi-session or single-session); erasing, formatting - quick or
slow (full) method; dvd+rw-tools only. WARNING: multiple blanking may quickly render your DVD-RW
unusable.

DVD+RW writing files and ISO images (both writing to disc from scratch and appending data), without
closing disc; blanking disc, but takes lots of time, and you don't need to do it anyway - you can
always start writing to the same disc like you would write to blank disc. DVD+RW can be handled by
both cdrecord/wodim and dvd+rw-tools. Notice that when using wodim you may encounter problems.

DVD+R DL
there is now partial support for DVD+R DL discs: cdw can burn ISO image and files in single
session. User has to explicitly enable it by passing "--enable-dvd-rp-dl" command line argument to
cdw; cdw can handle DVD+R DL discs only using dvd+rw-tools; this feature is very incomplete and
possibly buggy.

Dual-layer media other than DVD+R DL are not yet supported. DVD-RAM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD discs are
not supported.

MANUAL

You can write data discs either by using previously created ISO image file, or by selecting files from
hard drive and writing them directly to disc. cdw provides UI elements for both actions.

First action before creating new ISO/UDF image or writing files to disc is selecting files from your hard
drive. You can do this by selecting "Add files" in left-hand menu. You will be presented with simple file
selector. Use Up/Down arrows or Page Up/Page Down keys to move, Enter key to change current directory,
Space key to select files or directories. Selected items will be added to list displayed in main window.
Use Escape key to close file selector window. The selector window shows you all files and directories
(including hidden files) in current directory. You will see file size information for every file on the
list. You can also delete previously selected files from list: select "Delete files" from the menu and
use Up/Down arrow keys to move and Delete key to delete highlighted item. Use Escape key when you finish
deleting files from list of selected files.

Now you can select "Create image" from left-hand menu. cdw will display a wizard window where you can
change most common options for creating ISO9660 or UDF image, and where you can select path to target
image file on your hard disc.

You can also select "Write files to disc" to write selected files to optical disc. If you select the
option, cdw will display a wizard dialog window, in which you can adjust most common options related to
burning files to disc (for this function only ISO9660 file system is supported).

If you want to write ISO image file to optical disc, use "Write image to disc" option in left hand menu.
You will be presented with file picker dialog that allows you to select existing ISO image file from your
hard disc. After that cdw will display a wizard window, where you can modify most common options
available for burning a disc.

cdw allows you to verify correctness of this operation by checking a digest (e.g. md5 sum) of ISO file
and of track written to disc. You can request this by checking "Verify write" checkbox that will appear
in write wizard. Please note that this checkbox is visible only when you are writing ISO file to empty CD
or DVD disc. This function is still experimental. Make sure that a program for calculating digests is
installed on your machine. cdw supports following programs: md5sum sha1sum sha224sum sha256sum sha384sum
sha512sum

Another operation you can perform is erasing optical disc - CD-RW, DVD-RW (both Sequential Recording and
Restricted Overwrite) or DVD+RW. You can do this by selecting "Erase disc" option in cdw left-hand menu.
Please note that extensive erasing of DVD-RW may render your disc unusable. In case of CD-RW and DVD-RW
you will be asked what type of blanking you want to perform. You can choose fast mode or full mode. First
one doesn't take too much time (in case of CD-RW it only erases table of content of your disc), second
one can be very time-consuming, depending on disc size and selected speed.

When you will attempt to blank DVD-RW disc, blanking wizard will display dropdown that allows you to
choose mode (format) of DVD-RW disc: Restricted Overwrite or Sequential Recording.

cdw can be useful when you want to copy your data CD or DVD to ISO image on your hard drive. You do this
by selecting "Read disc" option from left-hand menu. This function allows you to copy first track from
your data CD or DVD. Reading second and following tracks from data discs, and reading discs written in
mixed mode (one or more data tracks + audio tracks) are not supported.

You can also use cdw to copy your audio CD to separate files (each track will be written to separate
file). You do this by selecting "Read disc" option from menu. cdw can't convert audio tracks to any
popular audio format. The tracks are written to files in the same format as they appear on CD (2
channels, 44100 samples per second, 16 bit signed PCM, little endian (intel)). The file names have
following name format: track_xx.raw (where xx is track number). You can convert raw track file to wav
file using e.g. sox command:

sox -c 2 -r 44100 -L -2 -s track_name.raw -t wav track_name.wav

The last operation that cdw offers is verification of data. You can use it for two purposes:

• calculating a digest of selected file from hard disc;

• comparing selected file with content of first track on optical disc; The second option also
utilizes digest tool (e.g. md5sum), but may not work correctly, so it is marked in cdw as
"Experimental".

cdw has Configuration window, accessed by selecting "Configuration" item in left-hand menu. The window
allows you to set up some options for tools used by cdw, and for cdw itself. Configuration window has
following tabs (you can access them using keys F2-F6):

• Log and misc - contains options related to log file in which cdw logs its operations, and to
some aspects of behavior of cdw.

• Tools - options in this tab allow you to select tools from your operating system that will be
used to create ISO9660 images, burn data to disc etc. You can safely leave "Configure tools
manually" checkbox unmarked.

• Audio - contains options related to ripping audio CDs.

• Hardware - probably will be visited only once, when you use cdw for the first time or when you
change your hardware configuration. Here you can set paths to your devices used by cdw.

• UDF - this tab contains only text information about requirements for creating UDF file system.
There are no options available in this tab. All options for creating UDF file system can be
accessed through UDF image wizard.

All options available in Configuration window are described below, in CONFIGURATION section.

You have to use F9 or F10 key to save any changes made in Configuration window and close the window. To
close Configuration window without saving changes use Escape key. Values from "Tools" tab are saved only
temporarily, they aren't stored in permanent configuration file.

You can control cdw using application's menu (visible on left side of screen), or using hotkeys.

Main menu items
• Add files: Select files and directories that you want to write to optical disc or to ISO image
on your hard disc. Press Space to select a file or directory, use Up and Down arrows to move on
the list, press Enter key to change directory, press Escape key to close file selection dialog.

• Delete files: List of selected files is displayed on the right side of the screen. If you want
to delete files from the list, select this button and use Delete key to delete a file, Up and
Down arrows to move on the list or press Escape to end deleting.

• Write files to disc: write selected files to optical disc that is currently in drive. You will
be warned if there is no disc in drive, the drive is not ready or the disc is mounted.

• Create image: write selected files to ISO9660 or UDF image file. The target image file can be
selected in file picker window.

• Write image to disc: write ISO image file to optical disc. The ISO image file can be selected
in file picker window. You will be warned if there is no disc in drive, the drive is not ready
or the disc is mounted.

• Read disc: Copy content of your single session data CD/DVD or audio CD to files on hard drive.
In case of data CD/DVD discs cdw will create correct image file on your hard disc, but only for
first track on disc, rest of tracks won't be read (cdw can't read them correctly). In case of
audio CDs cdw will copy each audio track to separate raw audio file. You will have to recode
the raw audio track files in order to play them in your media player.

• Erase disc: Erase data (partially or fully) from rewritable disc (CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW) that
is currently in drive. You can select mode of erasing CD-RW or DVD-RW: fast or full. You can't
select mode of erasing of DVD+RW.

• Verify data: Calculate digest of file selected from hard drive, or compare any file with first
track of optical disc.

• Configuration: Selecting this menu option will display cdw Configuration window, where you can
set various options.

• About: this option displays window with short information about cdw.

• Quit: close cdw and return to your command line.

Keys (hotkeys, available in main cdw window)
• F1, H, ? - Show this help: Display help window with list of hotkeys.

• F9/F10 - Show license of this program: display cdw license.

• C - Show Configuration window

• D - Show information about disc: cdw will run external tool to get some meta-information about
optical disc in your drive and display this information in text window.

• E - Eject drive tray: open your optical drive tray (will close tray if it is already open).

• F - Write selected files to disc: Write currently selected files to optical disc.

• G - Read content of CD: Copy content of your audio or data CD to your hard drive.

• I - Write ISO image to disc: Write ISO image to optical disc.

• L - Show log of last operation: view file with record of latest operations.

• R - Refresh information about disc: cdw will run external tool to get some meta-information
about optical disc in your drive and will display short summary in lower-left part of main cdw
window.

• V - Verify data: calculate digest of selected file (and of first track on optical disc).

• Q - Quit: close cdw and return to your command line

CONFIGURATION

This section describes Configuration module available via "Configuration" button in left-hand menu in
main cdw window. You have to press F9/F10 in Configuration window to save changes made in the window and
exit or press Escape key to close configuration window without saving changes. Please note that changes
made in "Tools" tab are saved only for current session with cdw.

• Log and misc (first tab):

• Log file path - path to file, in which cdw writes its messages and messages from external
tools (mkisofs, cdrecord, growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, xorriso, mkudffs, etc.). Specifying
this path is obligatory.

• Show log after actions - show the content of log file after some of actions performed by
cdw.

• Volume size - size of ISO/UDF filesystem that you want to create. Most often it is equal to
capacity of optical disc that you want burn data to. This is a dropdown, from which you can
select one of preselected values, or select "Custom size". Value of custom size can be
entered below the dropdown.

• Custom size - size of ISO/UDF filesystem that you want to create. This is the place where
you can enter nonstandard value of target ISO/UDF filesystem size.

• a checkbox for following symbolic links in selected files. Read the text next to the
checkbox for more information.

• a checkbox modifying style of navigation in file system browser windows. When this field
checked, you can use Left/Right keys on keyboard to move up/down in hierarchy of directories
in file system. This option work similarly to Midnight Commander's "Lynx-like motion"
option.

• Tools (second tab):

First thing that you will see in this tab "Configure tools manually" checkbox, it is unchecked
by default, and this is safe default value. In this state cdw select tools itself. If you
check this checkbox you will be presented with six dropdowns: first three allow you to select
tools or families of tools intended for specific tasks. Remaining dropdowns allow you to
select paths to some tools used by cdw for some tasks. All these dropdowns are explained below.

• "Tool for creating stand alone ISO9660 file" - here you select a tool used to create ISO9660
file saved on hard disc (stand-alone file). Depending on configuration of your software,
here you can find mkisofs (genisoimage) and xorriso.

• "Tools for handling CDs" dropdown - here you select a tool that will be used to burn data to
CD/CD-RW discs and to erase CD-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your software, here
you can find cdrecord (wodim) and xorriso.

• "Tools for handling DVDs" dropdown - here you select a tool that will be used to burn data
to DVD discs and to erase DVD+/-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your software, here
you can find dvd+rw-tools, cdrecord (wodim) and xorriso. Note that xorriso can be used only
for DVD+/-R discs.

• "Path to mkisofs" dropdown - here you can select one of implementations of mkisofs installed
in your system (e.g. if you have mkisofs and genisoimage).

• "Path to cdrecord" dropdown - here you can select one of implementations of cdrecord
installed in your system (e.g. if you have cdrecord and wodim).

• "Digest tool" - here you can select a tool used for calculating digest (checksum) - the tool
is used e.g. during verification of burning of ISO9660 file to optical disc. md5sum tool is
the default one, if found.

Remember that these settings are saved only for your current session with cdw, and that the
settings will be discarded when you close cdw.

• Audio (third tab):

• Audio output dir - path to directory, into which cdw will write raw audio tracks, ripped
from audio CD.

• Hardware (fourth tab):

• "cdw should use this drive" dropdown - option allowing you to select one of detected drives,
or to use path to drive entered manually ("custom path");

• "Custom path to drive" - field in which you can specify your own path to a device, to be
used when cdw can't autodetect all drives in your computer.

• SCSI device - parameters describing your SCSI hardware, in following format:
scsibus,target,lun (for a SCSI-emulated IDE CDRW: 0,0,0). It is used only by cdrecord and
you should enter appropriate value only if cdrecord has problems with device path in form of
'/dev/xxx'. Otherwise this field should be left empty. This option hasn't been tested, so
use it at your own risk.

• UDF (fifth tab): This tab contains only basic information about what is required by cdw to
create UDF file systems. Options related to UDF file system are available in UDF image wizard.

Notice that cdw doesn't specify (almost) any default options for mkudffs or rsync. User has to
select himself the best set of options for these programs that suit his needs.

"-a" option for rsync is a good starting point. If your version of rsync supports
"--info=progress2" and you enter this option in rsync options field, cdw will show a better
progress indication.

OPTIONS

       Command line options are following:

       -h, -- help
              displays information about invoking cdw and its options

       -v, --version
              displays cdw version and copyright information

       --enable-dvd+rp-dl
              enables very basic support for DVD+R DL discs

       --escdelay=X
              modifies delay time between pressing Escape key in cdw window and reaction to the key

FILES

              •  cdw.conf: Configuration file, usually stored in $HOME/.cdw/ directory.

              •  cdw.log:  Log  file,  by  default  stored  in  $HOME/.cdw/  directory. Path to this file can be
                 modified in Configuration window ("Log and misc" tab > 'Log file path' field).

              •  cdw.colors: File with definition of color schemes used to customize interface of cdw.  File  is
                 stored in $HOME/.cdw/ directory.

              •  temporary  files:  cdw  uses  some small temporary files to store various information. They are
                 usually created in /tmp directory. If everything goes well they are very  short-lived  and  are
                 removed as soon as they are no longer needed.

ENVIRONMENT

              •  HOME  -  cdw assumes that this variable exists and is set to valid user directory. If not, then
                 user is asked to select some other 'base' directory.

              •  PATH - cdw reads this environment variable to find directories with executable files. cdw  will
                 search in these directories for some tools.

DIAGNOSTICS

       cdw  uses  log file ($HOME/.cdw/cdw.log by default) to store information about actions performed. You can
       access this file using your file manager, or pressing 'L' key in cdw window. Read this file for any hints
       if you experience any problems.

BUGS

       There are still some bugs related to memory management.

       cdw  is  developed  and  tested  almost  exclusively on x64 GNU/Linux, running cdw on other platforms may
       produce some platform-specific bugs. Currently I can't verify them in any way.

       cdw still fails to detect some problems reported  by  wodim/cdrecord  mkisofs/genisoimage  or  growisofs,
       although things have improved in latest few versions. Support for xorriso is brand new, so there is a lot
       error messages printed by xorriso, that  cdw  is  unaware  of,  and  will  happily  ignore  them.  It  is
       recommended to read log file after every operation.

       Copying  data CDs to ISO image may finish with message "Problems occurred when copying tracks". This does
       not have to mean that output ISO file is corrupted: this be  a  sign  of  some  low-level  problems  when
       reading  from  optical  disc.  Similar message displayed after ripping audio CD may mean that one or more
       track files created on your hard disc is corrupted and it is caused by invalid audio CD.

       If you notice any other bugs please let me know. You can do this either using bug tracker on cdw  project
       site (http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdw/) or by sending me an e-mail: acerion@wp.pl.

AUTHOR

       cdw  is  currently developed by Kamil Ignacak (acerion@wp.pl). First developer of cdw was Varkonyi Balazs
       (http://sourceforge.net/users/vbali/).

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2002 Varkonyi Balazs, Copyright (C) 2007 -  2016  Kamil  Ignacak.   This  program  is  free
       software;  you  can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
       published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
       version. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html for details.