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+.TH SGM_DD "8" "February 2019" "sg3_utils\-1.45" SG3_UTILS
+.SH NAME
+sgm_dd \- copy data to and from files and devices, especially SCSI
+devices
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B sgm_dd
+[\fIbs=BS\fR] [\fIcount=COUNT\fR] [\fIibs=BS\fR] [\fIif=IFILE\fR]
+[\fIiflag=FLAGS\fR] [\fIobs=BS\fR] [\fIof=OFILE\fR] [\fIoflag=FLAGS\fR]
+[\fIseek=SEEK\fR] [\fIskip=SKIP\fR] [\fI\-\-help\fR] [\fI\-\-version\fR]
+.PP
+[\fIbpt=BPT\fR] [\fIcdbsz=\fR6|10|12|16] [\fIdio=\fR0|1] [\fIsync=\fR0|1]
+[\fItime=\fR0|1] [\fIverbose=VERB\fR] [\fI\-\-dry\-run\fR]
+[\fI\-\-verbose\fR]
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.\" Add any additional description here
+.PP
+Copy data to and from any files. Specialized for "files" that are
+Linux SCSI generic (sg) devices and raw devices. Uses memory mapped
+transfers on sg devices. Similar syntax and semantics to
+.B dd(1)
+but does not perform any conversions.
+.PP
+Will only perform memory mapped transfers when \fIIFILE\fR or \fIOFILE\fR
+are SCSI generic (sg) devices.
+.PP
+If both \fIIFILE\fR and \fIOFILE\fR are sg devices then memory mapped
+transfers are performed on \fIIFILE\fR. If no other flags are specified
+then indirect IO is performed on \fIOFILE\fR. If 'oflag=dio' is given then
+direct IO is attempted on \fIOFILE\fR. If direct IO is not available, then
+this utility falls back to indirect IO and reports this at the end of the
+copy.
+.PP
+The first group in the synopsis above are "standard" Unix
+.B dd(1)
+operands. The second group are extra options added by this utility.
+Both groups are defined below.
+.SH OPTIONS
+.TP
+\fBbpt\fR=\fIBPT\fR
+each IO transaction will be made using \fIBPT\fR blocks (or less if
+near the end of the copy). Default is 128 for block sizes less that 2048
+bytes, otherwise the default is 32. So for bs=512 the reads and writes
+will each convey 64 KiB of data by default (less if near the end of the
+transfer or memory restrictions). When cd/dvd drives are accessed, the
+block size is typically 2048 bytes and bpt defaults to 32 which again
+implies 64 KiB transfers.
+.TP
+\fBbs\fR=\fIBS\fR
+where \fIBS\fR
+.B must
+be the block size of the physical device. Note that this differs from
+.B dd(1)
+which permits \fIBS\fR to be an integral multiple. Default is 512 which
+is usually correct for disks but incorrect for cdroms (which normally
+have 2048 byte blocks). For this utility the maximum size of each individual
+IO operation is \fIBS\fR * \fIBPT\fR bytes.
+.TP
+\fBcdbsz\fR=6 | 10 | 12 | 16
+size of SCSI READ and/or WRITE commands issued on sg device names.
+Default is 10 byte SCSI command blocks (unless calculations indicate
+that a 4 byte block number may be exceeded, in which case it defaults
+to 16 byte SCSI commands).
+.TP
+\fBcount\fR=\fICOUNT\fR
+copy \fICOUNT\fR blocks from \fIIFILE\fR to \fIOFILE\fR. Default is the
+minimum (of \fIIFILE\fR and \fIOFILE\fR) number of blocks that sg devices
+report from SCSI READ CAPACITY commands or that block devices (or their
+partitions) report. Normal files are not probed for their size. If
+\fIskip=SKIP\fR or \fIseek=SEEK\fR are given and the count is derived (i.e.
+not explicitly given) then the derived count is scaled back so that the
+copy will not overrun the device. If the file name is a block device
+partition and \fICOUNT\fR is not given then the size of the partition rather
+than the size of the whole device is used. If \fICOUNT\fR is not given and
+cannot be derived then an error message is issued and no copy takes place.
+.TP
+\fBdio\fR=0 | 1
+permits direct IO to be selected on the write\-side (i.e. on \fIOFILE\fR).
+Only allowed when the read\-side (i.e. \fIIFILE\fR) is a sg device. When
+1 there may be a "zero copy" copy (i.e. mmap\-ed transfer on the read into
+the user space and direct IO from there on the write, potentially two DMAs
+and no data copying from the CPU). Default is 0.
+The same action as 'dio=1' is also available with 'oflag=dio'.
+.TP
+\fBibs\fR=\fIBS\fR
+if given must be the same as \fIBS\fR given to 'bs=' option.
+.TP
+\fBif\fR=\fIIFILE\fR
+read from \fIIFILE\fR instead of stdin. If \fIIFILE\fR is '\-' then stdin
+is read. Starts reading at the beginning of \fIIFILE\fR unless \fISKIP\fR
+is given.
+.TP
+\fBiflag\fR=\fIFLAGS\fR
+where \fIFLAGS\fR is a comma separated list of one or more flags outlined
+below. These flags are associated with \fIIFILE\fR and are ignored when
+\fIIFILE\fR is stdin.
+.TP
+\fBobs\fR=\fIBS\fR
+if given must be the same as \fIBS\fR given to 'bs=' option.
+.TP
+\fBof\fR=\fIOFILE\fR
+write to \fIOFILE\fR instead of stdout. If \fIOFILE\fR is '\-' then writes
+to stdout. If \fIOFILE\fR is /dev/null then no actual writes are performed.
+If \fIOFILE\fR is '.' (period) then it is treated the same way as
+/dev/null (this is a shorthand notation). If \fIOFILE\fR exists then it
+is _not_ truncated; it is overwritten from the start of \fIOFILE\fR
+unless 'oflag=append' or \fISEEK\fR is given.
+.TP
+\fBoflag\fR=\fIFLAGS\fR
+where \fIFLAGS\fR is a comma separated list of one or more flags outlined
+below. These flags are associated with \fIOFILE\fR and are ignored when
+\fIOFILE\fR is /dev/null, '.' (period), or stdout.
+.TP
+\fBseek\fR=\fISEEK\fR
+start writing \fISEEK\fR bs\-sized blocks from the start of \fIOFILE\fR.
+Default is block 0 (i.e. start of file).
+.TP
+\fBskip\fR=\fISKIP\fR
+start reading \fISKIP\fR bs\-sized blocks from the start of \fIIFILE\fR.
+Default is block 0 (i.e. start of file).
+.TP
+\fBsync\fR=0 | 1
+when 1, does SYNCHRONIZE CACHE command on \fIOFILE\fR at the end of the
+transfer. Only active when \fIOFILE\fR is a sg device file name.
+.TP
+\fBtime\fR=0 | 1
+when 1, times transfer and does throughput calculation, outputting the
+results (to stderr) at completion. When 0 (default) doesn't perform timing.
+.TP
+\fBverbose\fR=\fIVERB\fR
+as \fIVERB\fR increases so does the amount of debug output sent to stderr.
+Default value is zero which yields the minimum amount of debug output.
+A value of 1 reports extra information that is not repetitive. A value
+2 reports cdbs and responses for SCSI commands that are not repetitive
+(i.e. other that READ and WRITE). Error processing is not considered
+repetitive. Values of 3 and 4 yield output for all SCSI commands (and
+Unix read() and write() calls) so there can be a lot of output.
+.TP
+\fB\-d\fR, \fB\-\-dry\-run\fR
+does all the command line parsing and preparation but bypasses the actual
+copy or read. That preparation may include opening \fIIFILE\fR or
+\fIOFILE\fR to determine their lengths. This option may be useful for
+testing the syntax of complex command line invocations in advance of
+executing them.
+.TP
+\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
+outputs usage message and exits.
+.TP
+\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
+when used once, this is equivalent to \fIverbose=1\fR. When used
+twice (e.g. "\-vv") this is equivalent to \fIverbose=2\fR, etc.
+.TP
+\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
+outputs version number information and exits.
+.SH FLAGS
+Here is a list of flags and their meanings:
+.TP
+append
+causes the O_APPEND flag to be added to the open of \fIOFILE\fR. For normal
+files this will lead to data appended to the end of any existing data.
+Cannot be used together with the \fIseek=SEEK\fR option as they conflict.
+The default action of this utility is to overwrite any existing data
+from the beginning of the file or, if \fISEEK\fR is given, starting at
+block \fISEEK\fR. Note that attempting to 'append' to a device file (e.g.
+a disk) will usually be ignored or may cause an error to be reported.
+.TP
+dio
+is only active with oflag (i.e. 'oflag=dio'). Its action is described in
+the 'dio=1' option description above.
+.TP
+direct
+causes the O_DIRECT flag to be added to the open of \fIIFILE\fR and/or
+\fIOFILE\fR. This flag requires some memory alignment on IO. Hence user
+memory buffers are aligned to the page size. Has no effect on sg, normal
+or raw files.
+.TP
+dpo
+set the DPO bit (disable page out) in SCSI READ and WRITE commands. Not
+supported for 6 byte cdb variants of READ and WRITE. Indicates that
+data is unlikely to be required to stay in device (e.g. disk) cache.
+May speed media copy and/or cause a media copy to have less impact
+on other device users.
+.TP
+dsync
+causes the O_SYNC flag to be added to the open of \fIIFILE\fR and/or
+\fIOFILE\fR. The "d" is prepended to lower confusion with the 'sync=0|1'
+option which has another action (i.e. a synchronisation to media at the
+end of the transfer).
+.TP
+excl
+causes the O_EXCL flag to be added to the open of \fIIFILE\fR and/or
+\fIOFILE\fR.
+.TP
+fua
+causes the FUA (force unit access) bit to be set in SCSI READ and/or WRITE
+commands. This only has effect with sg devices. The 6 byte variants
+of the SCSI READ and WRITE commands do not support the FUA bit.
+Only active for sg device file names.
+.TP
+null
+has no affect, just a placeholder.
+.SH RETIRED OPTIONS
+Here are some retired options that are still present:
+.TP
+fua=0 | 1 | 2 | 3
+force unit access bit. When 3, fua is set on both \fIIFILE\fR and
+\fIOFILE\fR; when 2, fua is set on \fIIFILE\fR; when 1, fua is set on
+\fIOFILE\fR; when 0 (default), fua is cleared on both. See the 'fua' flag.
+.SH NOTES
+A raw device must be bound to a block device prior to using sgm_dd.
+See
+.B raw(8)
+for more information about binding raw devices. To be safe, the sg device
+mapping to SCSI block devices should be checked with the lsscsi utility
+before use.
+.PP
+Raw device partition information can often be found with
+.B fdisk(8)
+[the "\-ul" argument is useful in this respect].
+.PP
+Various numeric arguments (e.g. \fISKIP\fR) may include multiplicative
+suffixes or be given in hexadecimal. See the "NUMERIC ARGUMENTS" section
+in the sg3_utils(8) man page.
+.PP
+The count, skip and seek parameters can take 64 bit values (i.e. very
+big numbers). Other values are limited to what can fit in a signed
+32 bit number.
+.PP
+Data usually gets to the user space in a 2 stage process: first the
+SCSI adapter DMAs into kernel buffers and then the sg driver copies
+this data into user memory (write operations reverse this sequence).
+With memory mapped transfers a kernel buffer reserved by sg is memory
+mapped (see the
+.B mmap(2)
+system call) into the user space. When this is done
+the second (redundant) copy from kernel buffers to user space is
+not needed. Hence the transfer is faster and requires less "grunt"
+from the CPU.
+.PP
+All informative, warning and error output is sent to stderr so that
+dd's output file can be stdout and remain unpolluted. If no options
+are given, then the usage message is output and nothing else happens.
+.PP
+For sg devices this utility issues SCSI READ and WRITE (SBC) commands which
+are appropriate for disks and reading from CD/DVD/BD drives. Those commands
+are not formatted correctly for tape devices so sgm_dd should not be used
+on tape devices.
+.PP
+This utility stops the copy if any error is encountered. For more
+advanced "copy on error" logic see the
+.B sg_dd
+utility (and its 'coe' flag).
+.SH EXAMPLES
+See the examples given in the man page for
+.B sg_dd(8).
+.SH SIGNALS
+The signal handling has been borrowed from dd: SIGINT, SIGQUIT and
+SIGPIPE output the number of remaining blocks to be transferred and
+the records in + out counts; then they have their default action.
+SIGUSR1 causes the same information to be output yet the copy continues.
+All output caused by signals is sent to stderr.
+.SH EXIT STATUS
+The exit status of sgm_dd is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see
+the sg3_utils(8) man page. Since this utility works at a higher level
+than individual commands, and there are 'coe' and 'retries' flags,
+individual SCSI command failures do not necessary cause the process
+to exit.
+.SH AUTHORS
+Written by Douglas Gilbert and Peter Allworth.
+.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
+Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.
+.SH COPYRIGHT
+Copyright \(co 2000\-2019 Douglas Gilbert
+.br
+This software is distributed under the GPL version 2. There is NO
+warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+The simplest variant of this utility is called
+.B sg_dd.
+A POSIX threads version of this utility called
+.B sgp_dd
+is in the sg3_utils package. The lmbench package contains
+.B lmdd
+which is also interesting.
+.B dd(1), ddpt(ddpt), raw(8)