sg_opcodes - Man Page

sg_opcodes [--alpha] [--compact] [--enumerate] [--help] [--hex] [--inhex=FN] [--json[=JO]] [--js-file=JFN] [--mask] [--mlu] [--no-inquiry] [--opcode=OP[,SA]] [--pdt=DT] [--raw] [--rctd] [--repd] [--sa=SA] [--tmf] [--unsorted] [--verbose] [--version] DEVICE

sg_opcodes [-a] [-c] [-e] [-H] [-i=FN] [-j] [-m] [-M] [-n] [-o=OP] [-p=DT] [-q] [-R] [-s=SA] [-t] [-u] [-v] [-V] [-?] DEVICE

This utility sends a SCSI REPORT SUPPORTED OPERATION CODES or a REPORT SUPPORTED TASK MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS command to the DEVICE and then outputs the response. The default action is to report supported operation codes. In this mode it will either list all supported commands or give detailed information on a specific command identified by the --opcode=OP option (perhaps with additional information from the --sa=SA option).

The name of a SCSI command depends on its peripheral device type (e.g. a disk). The REPORT SUPPORTED OPERATION CODES and REPORT SUPPORTED TASK MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS commands are not supported in the MMC command set for CD and DVD devices. This utility does an INQUIRY to obtain the peripheral device type and prints out the vendor, product and revision strings.

A similar facility to query supported operation codes previously was available via the CmdDt bit in the SCSI INQUIRY command (see sg_inq(8)). However that facility was made obsolete and replaced by the REPORT SUPPORTED OPERATION CODES command in SPC-3 (revision 4) during February 2002.

This utility supports two command line syntaxes, the preferred one is shown first in the synopsis and explained in this section. A later section on the old command line syntax outlines the second group of options.

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

-a,  --alpha

when all supported commands are being listed there is no requirement for the device server (i.e. the DEVICE) to sort the list of commands. When this option is given the list of supported commands is sorted by name (alphabetically). When this option and the --unsorted option are both _not_ given then the list of supported commands is sorted numerically (first by operation code and then by service action).

-c,  --compact

some command names, especially those associated with some service actions, are getting longer. This may cause line wrap in the one line per command mode on some terminals. When this option is given the opcode and service action fields are combined into a single field with the service action, prefixed by a comma shown directly after the opcode. If there is no service action associated with the command, then the comma and the service action are not shown after the opcode. The CDB size field is not shown when this option is given.

-e,  --enumerate

this option prints the name of the SCSI command based on the given opcode, peripheral device type and optionally the service action. If given, DEVICE is ignored. The opcode, peripheral device type and service action default to zero if not given. Thus if this option is the only option given then "Test Unit ready" is output since its opcode is 0, it has no service action and it is common to all peripheral device types since it is defined in the SCSI Primary Commands (SPC) standard(s).

-h,  --help

outputs the usage message summarizing command line options then exits. Ignores DEVICE if given.

-H,  --hex

outputs the response in ASCII hexadecimal to stdout. When used once or twice, each line starts with a relative (hex) address starting at 0 on the first hex line output. The difference is when used twice the hexadecimal bytes are rendered in ASCII at the right of each line; non-printable characters are replaced by "." .
When used three or more times, there is no leading relative address on each line. This output is suitable for being redirected to a file which can later by given to the --inhex=FN option.

-i,  --inhex=FN

where FN is a file name whose contents are assumed to be ASCII hexadecimal. If DEVICE is also given then DEVICE is ignored, a warning is issued and the utility continues, decoding the file named FN. See the "HEX, BINARY AND JSON FORMATS" section in the sg3_utils manpage for more information. If the --raw option is also given then the contents of FN are treated as binary.

-j[=JO], --json[=JO]

output is in JSON format instead of plain text form. Note that arguments to the short and long form are themselves optional and if present start with "=" and no whitespace is permitted around that "=".
See sg3_utils_json manpage or use '?' for JO to get a summary.

-J,  --js-file=JFN

output is in JSON format and it is sent to a file named JFN. If that file exists then it is truncated. By default, the JSON output is sent to stdout.
When this option is given, the --json[=JO] option is implied and need not be given. The --json[=JO] option may still be needed to set the JO parameter to non-default values.

-m,  --mask

additionally prints out the cdb mask in hex. So a 12 byte cdb will have a 12 byte hexadecimal mask. If the hexadecimal is expanded (mentally) to binary then a "1" means the corresponding position in the cdb may be set. And "0" means the corresponding position in the cdb must not be set. For "0" mask positions that a user tries to set in a cdb, the device may either ignore it or report an error, typically with a sense key of "illegal request".

-M,  --mlu

additionally prints out an indication (0 or 1) whether the command effects all logical units in the containing target. MLU (Multiple Logical Units) is a bit in the REPORT SUPPORTED OPERATION CODES response introduced by proposal 18-045r1 (and possibly in spc5r20). Without the option, the default output format which lists all opcodes, does not include a MLU indication.

-n,  --no-inquiry

Prior to calling a SCSI REPORT SUPPORTED OPERATION CODES or a REPORT SUPPORTED TASK MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS command, a SCSI INQUIRY command is performed. The reason is to determine the peripheral device type (pdt) of the DEVICE as this is helpful in translating operation codes to the command names. By default this utility prints a summary of INQUIRY command response on stdout. If this option (or the --raw option) is given then that summary is not printed on stdout.

-O,  --old

Switch to older style options. Please use as first option.

-o,  --opcode=OP[,SA]

the DEVICE will be queried for the given operation code (i.e. the OP value) which is the first byte of a SCSI command. Optionally, if a SA value is given, it will be used as that SCSI command's service action. Note that OP and OP,0 are not the same thing, as SCSI does allow the service action to be 0 (but not in this command). OP and SA are decimal unless prefixed by "0x" or they have a trailing "h". OP should be in the range 0 to 255 (0xff) inclusive. SA should be in the range 0 to 65535 (0xffff) inclusive. When this option is not given then all available SCSI commands supported by the DEVICE are listed.

-p,  --pdt=DT

where DT is the peripheral device type. This is used together with the --enumerate to differentiate when a command opcode (and perhaps service action) is shared by multiple device types.
Numerical values between -1 and 31 (inclusive) may be used where -1 implies what is in SPC. Names like 'tape', 'disk' and 'processor' may also be given.
This option may also be used with the --no-inquiry option to suppress this utility doing an INQUIRY command since the main reason for doing that is to find the peripheral device type of the DEVICE.

-r,  --raw

output response in binary (to stdout) unless the --inhex=FN option is also given. In that case the input file name (FN) is decoded as binary (and the output is _not_ in binary (but may be hex)).

-R,  --rctd

set report command timeout descriptor (RCTD) bit in the cdb. The response may or may not contain command timeout descriptors. If available they are output. If supported there are two values: a nominal command timeout and a recommended command timeout. Both have units of seconds. A value of zero means that no timeout is indicated and this is shown in the corresponding decoded output as "-".

-q,  --repd

set read extended parameter data (REPD) bit in the report task management functions cdb. 16 bytes rather than the default 4 bytes expected in the response. This was added in SPC-4 (revision 26).

-s,  --sa=SA

the DEVICE will be queried for a command with the given service action (i.e. the SA value). Used in conjunction with the --opcode=OP option. If this option is not given, --opcode=OP is given and the command in question does have a service action then a value of 0 will be assumed. SA is decimal and expected to be in the range 0 to 65535 (0xffff) inclusive.

-t,  --tmf

list supported task management functions. This is done with the SCSI REPORT SUPPORTED TASK MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS command.  When this option is chosen the --alpha, --opcode=OP, --rctd, --sa=SA and --unsorted options are ignored.

-u,  --unsorted

when all supported commands are being listed there is no requirement for the device server (i.e. the DEVICE) to sort the list of commands. When this option is given the list of supported commands is in the order given by the DEVICE. When this option is not given the supported commands are sorted numerically (first by operation code and then by service action).

-v,  --verbose

increase level of verbosity. Can be used multiple times.

-V,  --version

print out version string then exit.

As of SPC-5 revision 8 the recognized task management functions are: abort set, abort task set, clear ACA, clear task set, logical unit reset, query task, query asynchronous event, query task set, and I_T nexus reset. In SPC-4 revision 26 target reset and wakeup task management functions were made obsolete.

In the 2.4 series of Linux kernels the DEVICE must be a SCSI generic (sg) device. In the 2.6 series block devices (e.g. SCSI disks and DVD drives) can also be specified. For example "sg_opcodes /dev/sda" will work in the 2.6 series kernels.

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

The options in this section were the only ones available prior to sg3_utils version 1.23 . Since then this utility defaults to the newer command line options which can be overridden by using --old (or -O) as the first option. See the Environment Variables section for another way to force the use of these older command line options.

-a

sort command alphabetically. Equivalent to --alpha in main description.

-c

see the --compact option above.

-e

see the --enumerate option above.

-H

see the --hex option above.

-m

see the --mask option above.

-n

don't print a summary of the SCSI INQUIRY response on stdout.

-N, --new

Switch to the newer style options.

-o=OP

the DEVICE will be queried for the given operation code (i.e. OP) which is the first byte of a SCSI command. OP is hexadecimal and expected to be in the range 0 to ff inclusive. When this option is not given then all available SCSI commands supported by the DEVICE are listed.

-p=DT

see the --pdt=DT option above.

-q

set the read extended parameter data (REPD) bit in report TMF cdb. Equivalent to --repd in main description.

-R

set the report command timeout descriptor (RCTD) bit in cdb. Equivalent to --rctd in main description.

-s=SA

the DEVICE will be queried for a command with the given service action (i.e. SA). Used in conjunction with the -o=OP option. If this option is not given, -o=OP is given and the command in question does have a service action then a value of 0 will be assumed. SA is hexadecimal and expected to be in the range 0 to ffff inclusive.

-t

list supported task management functions. Equivalent to --tmf in the main description.

-u

output all supported commands in the order given by DEVICE. Equivalent to --unsorted in main description.

-v

increase level of verbosity. Can be used multiple times.

-V

print out version string then exit.

-?

output usage message. Ignore all other parameters.

The examples in this page use Linux device names. For suitable device names in other supported Operating Systems see the sg3_utils(8) man page.

To see the information about a specific command give its operation code to the '--op=' option. A command line invocation is shown first followed by a typical response:

  # sg_opcodes --op=93h /dev/sdb

 Opcode=0x93
 Command_name: Write same(16)
 Command supported [conforming to SCSI standard]
 Usage data: 93 e2 00 00 00 00 ff ff ff ff 00 00 ff ff 00 00

The next example shows the supported task management functions:

  # sg_opcodes --tmf -n /dev/sdb

Task Management Functions supported by device:
   Abort task
   Abort task set
   Clear ACA
   Clear task set
   Logical unit reset
   Query task

Enumerate can be used to look up a SCSI command name in the absence of a device that supports that command. The opcode and service action (if required) should be supplied:

  # sg_opcodes --enumerate --op=0x9b,0xa

 SCSI command:
   Read buffer(16), read data from echo buffer

Since sg3_utils version 1.23 the environment variable SG3_UTILS_OLD_OPTS can be given. When it is present this utility will expect the older command line options. So the presence of this environment variable is equivalent to using --old (or -O) as the first command line option.

Written by Douglas Gilbert

Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.

Copyright © 2004-2023 Douglas Gilbert
This software is distributed under the GPL version 2. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

sg_inq,sg3_utils_json(sg3_utils)

sg_inq(8).