Ubuntu Manpage: sg_get_config - send SCSI GET CONFIGURATION command (MMC-4 +)

Provided by: sg3-utils_1.36-1ubuntu1_amd64

NAME

       sg_get_config - send SCSI GET CONFIGURATION command (MMC-4 +)

SYNOPSIS

       sg_get_config  [--brief]  [--current]  [--help]  [--hex]  [--inner-hex]  [--list]  [--raw]
       [--readonly] [--rt=RT] [--starting=FC] [--verbose] [--version] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION

       Sends a SCSI GET CONFIGURATION command to DEVICE and decodes the  response.  The  response
       includes  the  features  and profiles of the device.  Typically these devices are CD, DVD,
       HD-DVD and BD players that may (but not necessarily) have media in them. These devices may
       well  be  connected  via ATAPI, USB or IEEE 1394 transports. In such cases they are "SCSI"
       devices only in the sense that they use the "Multi-Media command" set  (MMC).   MMC  is  a
       specialized SCSI command set whose definition can be found at http://www.t10.org .

       This  utility  is based on the MMC-4 and later draft standards. See section 5 on "Features
       and Profile for Multi_Media devices" for more information on specific  feature  parameters
       and profiles. The manufacturer's product manual may also be useful.

       Since  modern  DVD  and  BD writers support many features and profiles, the decoded output
       from this utility can be large. There are various ways to cut  down  the  output.  If  the
       --brief option is used only the feature names are shown and the feature parameters are not
       decoded. Alternatively if only one feature is of interest then this combination of options
       is  appropriate:  "--rt=2 --starting=FC". Another possibility is to show only the features
       that are relevant to the media in the drive (i.e. "current") with the "--rt=1" option.

OPTIONS

Arguments to long options are mandatory for short options as well.

-b, --brief
show the feature names but don't decode the parameters of those features. When
used with --list outputs known feature names but not known profile names.

-c, --current
output features marked as current. This option is equivalent to '--rt=1'.

-h, --help
output the usage message then exit.

-H, --hex
output the response in hex (don't decode response).

-i, --inner-hex
decode to the feature name level then output each feature's data in hex.

-l, --list
list all known feature and profile names. Ignore the device name (if given).
Simply lists the feature names and profiles (followed by their hex values) that
this utility knows about. If --brief is also given then only feature names are
listed.

-q, --readonly
opens the DEVICE read-only rather than read-write which is the default. The Linux
sg driver needs read-write access for the SCSI GET CONFIGURATION command but other
access methods may require read-only access.

-r, --rt=RT
where RT is the field of that name in the GET CONFIGURATION cdb. Allowable values
are 0, 1, 2, or 3 . The command's action also depends on the value given to the
--starting=FC option. The default value is 0. When RT is 0 then all features,
regardless of currency, are returned (whose feature code is greater than or equal
to FC given to --starting=). When RT is 1 then all current features are returned
(whose feature code is greater than or equal to FC). When RT is 2 then the feature
whose feature code is equal to FC, if any, is returned. When RT is 3 the response
is reserved (probably yields an "illegal field in cdb" error). To simplify the
meanings of the RT values are:
0 : all features, current on not
1 : only current features
2 : only feature whose code is FC
3 : reserved

-R, --raw
output response in binary (to stdout). Note that the short form is -R unlike most
other utilities in this package that use -r for this action.

-s, --starting=FC
where FC is the feature code value. This option works closely with the --rt=RT
option. The FC value is in the range 0 to 65535 (0xffff) inclusive. Its default
value is 0. A value prefixed with "0x" (or a trailing 'h') is interpreted as
hexadecimal.

-v, --verbose
increase the level of verbosity, (i.e. debug output).

-V, --version
print the version string and then exit.

NOTES

There are multiple versions of the MMC (draft) standards: MMC [1997], MMC-2 [2000], MMC-3
[2002], MMC-4 and MMC-5. The first three are now ANSI INCITS standards with the year they
became standards shown in brackets. The draft immediately prior to standardization can be
found at http://www.t10.org . In the initial MMC standard there was no GET CONFIGURATION
command and the relevant information was obtained from the "CD capabilities and mechanical
status mode page" (mode page 0x2a). It was later renamed the "MM capabilities and
mechanical status mode page" and has been made obsolete in MMC-4 and MMC-5. The GET
CONFIGURATION command was introduced in MMC-2 and has become a replacement for that mode
page. New features such as support for "BD" (blue ray) media type can only be found by
using the GET CONFIGURATION command. Hence older CD players may not support the GET
CONFIGURATION command in which case the "MM capabilities ..." mode page can be checked
with sdparm(8), sginfo(8) or sg_modes(8).

In the 2.4 series of Linux kernels the DEVICE must be a SCSI generic (sg) device. In the
2.6 series block devices can also be specified. For example "sg_get_config /dev/hdc" will
work in the 2.6 series kernels as long as /dev/hdc is an ATAPI device. In the 2.6 series
external DVD writers attached via USB could be queried with "sg_get_config /dev/scd1" for
example.

EXIT STATUS

       The  exit  status  of  sg_get_config  is  0  when  it  is  successful.  Otherwise  see the
       sg3_utils(8) man page.

AUTHORS

       Written by Douglas Gilbert.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2004-2012 Douglas Gilbert
       This software is distributed under a FreeBSD license. There is NO warranty; not  even  for
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.