1CDRSKIN(1) General Commands Manual CDRSKIN(1)
2
6 cdrskin - burns preformatted data to CD, DVD, and BD via libburn.
7
9 cdrskin [options|track_source_addresses]
10
12 cdrskin is a program that provides some of cdrecord's options in a com‐
13 patible way for CD media. With DVD and BD it has its own ways. You do
14 not need to be superuser for its daily usage.
15 Overview of features:
17 Blanking of CD-RW and DVD-RW.
18 Formatting of DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD.
19 Burning of data tracks or audio tracks with CD-TEXT to CD,
20 either in versatile Track at Once mode (TAO)
21 or in Session at Once mode for seamless tracks.
22 Multi session on CD (follow-up sessions in TAO only)
23 or on DVD-R[W] (in Incremental mode) or DVD+R[/DL] or BD-R.
24 Single session Disk-at-once on DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-R DL.
25 Single session or emulated ISO-9660 multi-session
26 on overwriteable DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE
27 or on data file or block device.
28 Extraction of audio tracks and CD-TEXT to hard disk files.
29 Bus scan, burnfree, speed options, retrieving media info, padding,
30 fifo.
31 See section EXAMPLES at the end of this text.
32 General information paragraphs:
34 Track recording model
35 Write mode selection
36 Recordable CD Media
37 Sequentially Recordable DVD or BD Media
38 Overwriteable DVD or BD Media
39 Drive preparation and addressing
40 Emulated drives
41 Track recording model:
43 The input-output entities which get processed are called tracks. A
44 track stores a stream of bytes.
45 More than one track can be burned by a single run of cdrskin. In the
46 terms of the MMC standard all tracks written by the same run constitute
47 a session.
48 Normally, each track is initiated by one track source address argument,
49 which may either be "-" for standard input or the address of a readable
50 file. Alternatively, option cuefile= may be used to read a session
51 description from a text file and to read the session content from a
52 single data file.
53 If no write mode is given explicitly then one will be chosen which
54 matches the peculiarities of track sources and the state of the output
55 media.
56 Some media types can be kept appendable so that further tracks can be
58 written to them in subsequent runs of cdrskin (see option -multi).
59 Info about the addresses of burned tracks is kept in a table of content
60 (TOC) on media and can be retrieved via cdrskin option -toc. This
61 information is also used by the operating systems' CD-ROM read drivers.
62 In general there are two types of tracks: data and audio. They differ
64 in sector size, throughput and readability via the systems' CD-ROM
65 drivers and by music CD players. With DVD and BD there is only type
66 data.
67 If not explicitly option -audio is given, then any track is burned as
68 type data, unless the track source is a file with suffix ".wav" or
69 ".au" and has a header part which identifies it as MS-WAVE or SUN Audio
70 with suitable parameters. Such files are burned as audio tracks by
71 default.
72 While audio tracks just contain a given time span of acoustic vibra‐
74 tions, data tracks may have an arbitrary meaning. Nevertheless,
75 ISO-9660 filesystems are established as a format which can represent a
76 tree of directories and files on all major operating systems. Such
77 filesystem images can be produced by programs mkisofs or genisoimage or
78 xorriso. They can also be extended by follow-up tracks if prepared
79 properly. See the man pages of said programs. cdrskin is able to ful‐
80 fill the needs about their option -C.
81 Another type of data track content are archive formats which originally
82 have been developed for magnetic tapes. Only formats which mark a
83 detectable end-of-archive in their data are suitable, though. Well
84 tested are the archivers afio and star. Not suitable seems GNU tar.
85 Write mode selection:
87 In general there are two approaches for writing media:
88 A permissive mode selected by option -tao which needs no predicted
89 track size and can use multi-session capabilities if offered by drive
90 and medium.
91 A more restrictive mode -sao (alias -dao) which usually demands a pre‐
92 dictable track size and is not necessarily capable of multi-session. It
93 can be used to write CD-TEXT and it is the only one that works with
94 option cuefile=.
95 If none of the options -dao, -tao or -sao is given then the program
96 will try to choose a write mode which matches the defined recording
97 job, the capabilities of the drive and the state of the present media.
98 So the mentioning of write modes in the following paragraphs and in the
99 examples is not so much a demand that the user shall choose one explic‐
100 itly, but rather an illustration of what to expect with particular
101 media types.
102 Recordable CD Media:
104 CD-R can be initially written only once and eventually extended until
105 they get closed (or are spoiled because they are overly full). After
106 that they are read-only. Closing is done automatically unless option
107 -multi is given which keeps the media appendable.
108 Write mode -tao is able to use track sources of unpredictable length
109 (like stdin) and to write further sessions to appendable media. -sao
110 produces audio sessions with seamless tracks but needs predicted track
111 sizes and cannot append sessions to media.
112 CD-RW media can be blanked to make them re-usable for another round of
113 overwriting. Usually blank=fast is the appropriate option. Blanking
114 damages the previous content but does not make it completely unread‐
115 able. It is no effective privacy precaution. Multiple cycles of blank‐
116 ing and overwriting with random numbers might be needed.
117 Sequentially Recordable DVD or BD Media:
119 Currently DVD-RW, DVD-R[DL], DVD+R[DL], and BD-R can be used for the
120 Sequential recording model. It resembles the model of CD media. Only
121 DVD-RW can be blanked and re-used from scratch.
122 DVD-RW are sequential media if they are in state "Sequential Record‐
123 ing". The media must be either blank or appendable. Newly purchased
124 DVD-RW and DVD-R media are in this state. Used DVD-RW get into blank
125 sequential state by option blank=deformat_sequential .
126 With DVD-R[W] two write modes may be available:
127 Mode DAO has many restrictions. It does not work with appendable media,
128 cannot do -multi and writes only a single track. The size of the track
129 needs to be known in advance. So either its source has to be a disk
130 file of recognizable size or the size has to be announced explicitly by
131 options tsize= or tao_to_sao_tsize= .
132 DAO is the only mode for DVD-R media which do not offer feature 21h
133 Incremental Streaming (e.g. DVD-R DL). DAO may also be selected explic‐
134 itly by option -sao . Program growisofs uses DAO on sequential DVD-
135 R[W] media for maximum DVD-ROM/-Video compatibility.
136 The other mode, Incremental Streaming, is the default write mode if it
137 is available and if the restrictions of DAO would prevent the job.
138 Incremental Streaming may be selected explicitly by option -tao as it
139 resembles much CD TAO by accepting track sources of unpredicted length
140 and being able to keep media appendable by option -multi . It does not
141 work with DVD-R DL and minimally blanked DVD-RW. The only restriction
142 towards CD-R[W] is the lack of support for -audio tracks. Multiple
143 tracks per session are permissible.
144 The write modes for DVD+R[/DL] and BD-R resemble those with DVD-R
145 except that each track gets wrapped in an own session. There is no
146 -dummy writing with DVD+R[/DL] or BD-R.
147 Quite deliberately write mode -sao insists in the tradition of a pre‐
148 dicted track size and blank media, whereas -tao writes the tracks open
149 ended and can be applied to appendable media.
150 BD-R may be formatted before first use to enable the Defect Management
151 which might catch and repair some bad spots at the expense of slow
152 speed even with flawless media.
153 Note: Option -multi might make DVD media unreadable in some DVD-ROM
154 drives. Best reader compatibility is achieved without it (i.e. by sin‐
155 gle session media).
156 Overwriteable DVD or BD Media:
158 Currently types DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and BD-RE can be overwritten
159 via cdrskin.
160 Option -audio is not allowed. Only one track is allowed. Option -multi
161 cannot mark a recognizable end of overwriteable media. Therefore
162 -multi is banned unless ISO-9660 images shall be expandable by help of
163 option --grow_overwriteable_iso . Without this option or without an
164 ISO-9660 filesystem image present on media, -toc does not return infor‐
165 mation about the media content and media get treated as blank regard‐
166 less whether they hold data or not.
167 Currently there is no difference between -sao and -tao. If ever, then
168 -tao will be the mode which preserves the current behavior.
169 DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media need no special initial formatting. They offer
171 a single continuous data area for blockwise random access. BD-RE need
172 explicit formatting before use. See blank=as_needed or blank=for‐
173 mat_defectmgt .
174 DVD-RW are sold in state "Sequential Recording". To become suitable for
175 the Overwriteable DVD recording model they need to get formatted to
176 state "Restricted Overwrite". Then they behave much like DVD+RW. This
177 formatting can be done by option blank=format_overwrite .
178 Several programs like dvd+rw-format, cdrecord, wodim, or cdrskin can
179 bring a DVD-RW out of overwriteable state so that it has to be format‐
180 ted again. If in doubt, just give it a try.
181 Drive preparation and addressing:
183 The drives, CD, DVD, or BD burners, are accessed via addresses which
184 are specific to libburn and the operating system. Those addresses get
185 listed by a run of cdrskin --devices or cdrskin --device_links.
186 On Linux, they are device files which traditionally do not offer w-per‐
187 missions for normal users. Because libburn needs rw-permission, it
188 might be only the superuser who is able to get this list without fur‐
189 ther precautions.
190 It is consensus that chmod a+rw /dev/sr0 or chmod a+rw /dev/hdc is less
191 security sensitive than chmod u+s,a+x /usr/bin/cdrskin. The risk for
192 the drive is somewhat higher but the overall system is much less at
193 stake. Consider to restrict rw-access to a single group which bundles
194 the users who are allowed to use the burner drive (like group
195 "floppy").
196 For drive permission examples on Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris, see
197 cdrskin/README.
198 If you only got one CD capable drive then you may leave out cdrskin
200 option dev=. Else you should use this option to address the drive you
201 want.
202 cdrskin option dev= not only accepts the listed addresses but also tra‐
203 ditional cdrecord SCSI addresses which consist of three numbers:
204 Bus,Target,Lun. On Linux there is also a related address family "ATA"
205 which accesses IDE drives not under control of Linux SCSI drivers:
206 ATA:Bus,Target,Lun.
207 See option -scanbus for getting a list of cdrecord style addresses.
208 Further are accepted: links to libburn-suitable device files, device
209 files which have the same major and minor device number, and device
210 files which have the same SCSI address parameters (e.g. /dev/sg0).
211 Emulated drives:
213 Option --allow_emulated_drives enables addressing of pseudo-drives
214 which get emulated on top of filesystem objects. Regular data files and
215 block devices result in pseudo-drives which behave much like DVD-RAM.
216 If the given address does not exist yet but its directory exists, then
217 it gets created as regular file. Other file types like character
218 devices or pipes result in pseudo-drives which behave much like blank
219 DVD-R. The target file address is given after prefix "stdio:".
220 E.g.: dev=stdio:/tmp/my_pseudo_drive
221 Addresses of the form "stdio:/dev/fd/<number>" are treated special. The
222 number is read literally and used as open file descriptor. With
223 dev="stdio:/dev/fd/1" the normal standard output of the program is
224 redirected to stderr and the stream data of a burn run will appear on
225 stdout.
226 Not good for terminals ! Redirect it.
227 Pseudo-drives support -dummy. Their reply with --tell_media_space can
228 be utopic. -dummy burn runs touch the file but do not modify its data
229 content.
230 Note: --allow_emulated_drives is restricted to stdio:/dev/null if
231 cdrskin is run by the superuser or if it has changed user identity via
232 the setuid bit of its access permissions. The ban for the superuser can
233 be lifted by a skillfully created file. See section FILES below.
234
236 --help Show non-cdrecord compatible options.
237 -help Show cdrecord compatible options.
239 Note that some of the help texts are quite wrong - for cdrecord
240 as well as for cdrskin (e.g. -format, blank=, -load). They are,
241 nevertheless, traditional indicators for the availability of the
242 listed options. Some frontend programs make decisions after
243 reading them.
244 -version
246 Print cdrskin id line, compatibility lure line, libburn version,
247 cdrskin version, version timestamp, build timestamp (if avail‐
248 able), and then exit.
249 Alphabetical list of options which are intended to be compatible with
251 original cdrecord by Joerg Schilling:
252 -atip Retrieve some info about media state. With CD-RW print "Is
254 erasable". With DVD media print "book type:" and a media type
255 text. With BD media print "Mounted Media:" and media type text.
256 -audio Announces that the subsequent tracks are to be burned as audio.
258 The source is supposed to be uncompressed headerless PCM, 44100
259 Hz, 16 bit, stereo. For little-endian byte order (which is usual
260 on PCs) use option -swab. Unless marked explicitly by option
261 -data, input files with suffix ".wav" are examined whether they
262 have a header in MS-WAVE format confirming those parameters and
263 eventually raw audio data get extracted and burned as audio
264 track. Same is done for suffix ".au" and SUN Audio.
265 Option -audio may be used only with CD media and not with DVD or
266 BD.
267 blank=type
269 Blank a CD-RW, DVD-RW, or format a DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD.
270 This is combinable with burning in the same run of cdrskin. The
271 type given with blank= selects the particular behavior:
272 as_needed
274 Try to make the media ready for writing from scratch. If
275 it needs formatting, then format it. If it is not blank,
276 then try to apply blank=fast. It is a reason to abort if
277 the media cannot assume thoroughly writeable state, e.g.
278 if it is non-blank write-once.
279 This leaves unformatted DVD-RW in unformatted blank
280 state. To format DVD-RW use blank=format_overwriteable.
281 Blank unformatted BD-R stay unformatted.
282 (Note: blank=as_needed is not an original cdrecord
283 option.)
284 The following blank types are specific to particular media
286 familes. Use them if special features are desired.
287 all Blank an entire CD-RW or an unformatted DVD-RW. (See
289 also --prodvd_cli_compatible, --grow_overwriteable_iso)
290 fast Minimally blank an entire CD-RW or blank an unformatted
292 DVD-RW. (See also --prodvd_cli_compatible, --grow_over‐
293 writeable_iso)
294 deformat_sequential
296 Like blank=all but with the additional ability to blank
297 overwriteable DVD-RW. This will destroy their formatting
298 and make them sequentially recordable. Another peculiar‐
299 ity is the ability to blank media which appear already
300 blank. This is similar to option -force but does not try
301 to blank media other than recognizable CD-RW and DVD-RW.
302 (Note: blank=deformat_* are not original cdrecord
303 options.)
304 deformat_sequential_quickest
306 Like blank=deformat_sequential but blanking DVD-RW only
307 minimally. This is faster than full blanking but may
308 yield media incapable of Incremental Streaming (-tao).
309 format_if_needed
311 Format a media if it is not formatted yet, and if cdrskin
312 supports formatting for the media type, and if formatting
313 will not happen automatically during write. This cur‐
314 rently applies to unformatted DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE, and
315 blank unformatted BD-R. Eventually the appropriate
316 default formatting is chosen. If other media or states
317 are encountered then nothing happens.
318 The following formatting types are more specialized to
319 particular media families.
320 format_overwrite
322 Format a DVD-RW to "Restricted Overwrite". The user
323 should bring some patience.
324 (Note: blank=format_* are not original cdrecord options.)
325 format_overwrite_quickest
327 Like format_overwrite without creating a 128 MiB trail‐
328 blazer session. Leads to "intermediate" state which only
329 supports sequential write beginning from address 0. The
330 "intermediate" state ends after the first session of
331 writing data.
332 format_overwrite_full
334 For DVD-RW this is like format_overwrite but claims full
335 media size rather than just 128 MiB. Most traditional
336 formatting is attempted. No data get written. Much
337 patience is required.
338 This option treats already formatted media even if not
339 option -force is given.
340 For DVD+RW this is the only supported explicit formatting
341 type. It provides complete "de-icing" so no reader slips
342 on unwritten data areas.
343 format_defectmgt
345 Format DVD-RAM or BD to reserve the default amount of
346 spare blocks for defect management.
347 The following format_defectmgt_* enable the user to sub‐
348 mit wishes which nevertheless have to match one of the
349 available formats. These formats are offered by the drive
350 after examining the media.
351 format_defectmgt_cert_off
353 Disable the usual media quality certification in order to
354 save time and format to default size. The certification
355 setting persists even if subsequent blank= options over‐
356 ride the size of the format selection.
357 Whether formatting without certification works properly
358 depends much on the drive. One should check the "Format
359 status:" from --list_formats afterwards.
360 format_defectmgt_cert_on
362 Re-enable the usual media quality certification and for‐
363 mat to default size. The certification setting persists
364 like with format_defectmgt_cert_off.
365 Whether there happens certification at all depends much
366 on the media state and the actually selected format
367 descriptor.
368 format_defectmgt_max
370 Format DVD-RAM or BD to reserve a maximum number of spare
371 blocks.
372 format_defectmgt_min
374 Format DVD-RAM or BD to reserve a minimum number of spare
375 blocks. It might be necessary to format format_defect‐
376 mgt_none first in order to get offered the most minmal
377 spare blocks sizes for format_defectmgt_min.
378 format_defectmgt_none
380 Format DVD-RAM or BD-RE to the largest available payload
381 in the hope to disable defect management at all. This may
382 or may not have a speed increasing effect. Unformatted
383 blank BD-R will be left unformatted.
384 format_defectmgt_payload_<size>
386 Format DVD-RAM or BD. The text after "format_defect‐
387 mgt_payload_" gives a number of bytes, eventually with
388 suffixes "s", "k", "m". The largest number of spare
389 blocks will be chosen which enables at least the given
390 payload size.
391 format_by_index_<number>
393 Format DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or BD. The number after
394 "format_by_index_" is used as index to the list of avail‐
395 able format descriptors. This list can be obtained by
396 option --list_formats. The numbers after text "Format
397 idx" are the ones to be used with format_by_index_. For‐
398 mat descriptor lists are volatile. Do neither eject nor
399 write the media between the run of --list_formats and the
400 run of blank=format_by_index_ or else you may get a dif‐
401 ferent format than desired.
402 help Print this list of blanking types.
404 -checkdrive
406 Retrieve some info about the addressed drive and then exit.
407 Exits with non-zero value if the drive cannot be found and
408 opened.
409 -copy Create the subsequent tracks with permission for an unlimited
411 number of copies.
412 cuefile=path
414 Read a session description from a cue sheet file in CDRWIN for‐
415 mat. Base the tracks on a single file which is given in the
416 sheet by command FILE. To enable CD-TEXT from the cue sheet
417 file, cdrskin option -text has to be present.
418 cdrskin currently supports TRACK datatypes AUDIO and MODE1/2048
419 which may not be mixed. Data source may be of FILE type BINARY,
420 MOTOROLA, or WAVE.
421 Non-CDRWIN commands ARRANGER, COMPOSER, MESSAGE are supported.
422 Cue sheet file commands CATALOG and ISRC may be overridden by
423 option mcn= and by input_sheet_v07t= purpose specifiers "UPC /
424 EAN" and "ISRC". This does not affect their appearance in CD-
425 TEXT, but only on Q sub-channel.
426 The track numbers may be overridden by option cd_start_tno=.
427 -dao Alias for option -sao. Write CD in Session at Once mode or DVD-
429 R[W] in Disc-at-once mode.
430 -data Subsequent tracks are data tracks. This option is default and
432 only needed to mark the end of the range of an eventual option
433 -audio or -xa1.
434 Options -mode2, -xa, and -xa2 get mapped to -data, not using the
435 desired CD sector formats and thus not taking advantage of even‐
436 tual higher payload.
437 -xa1 Subsequent tracks are data tracks with input suitable for CD-ROM
439 XA mode 2 form 1. This differs from -data input by 8 additional
440 header bytes per block. cdrskin will not write CD-ROM XA but
441 rather strip the header bytes and write as -data tracks.
442 dev=target
444 Set the address of the drive to use. Valid are at least the
445 addresses listed with options --devices or --device_links, X,Y,Z
446 addresses listed with option -scanbus, ATA:X,Y,Z addresses
447 listed with options dev=ATA -scanbus, and volatile libburn drive
448 numbers (numbering starts at "0"). Other device file addresses
449 which lead to the same drive might work too.
450 If no dev= is given, volatile address "dev=0" is assumed. That
451 is the first drive found being available. Better avoid this
452 ambiguity on systems with more than one drive.
453 The special target "help" lists hints about available addressing
454 formats. Be aware that deprecated option --old_pseudo_scsi_adr
455 may change the meaning of Bus,Target,Lun addresses.
456 driveropts=opt
458 Set "driveropts=noburnfree" to disable the drive's eventual pro‐
459 tection mechanism against temporary lack of source data (i.e.
460 buffer underrun). A drive that announces no such capabilities
461 will not get them enabled anyway, even if attempted explicitly
462 via "driveropts=burnfree".
463 -dummy Try to perform the drive operations without actually affecting
465 the inserted media. There is no warranty that this will work
466 with a particular combination of drive, media, and write mode.
467 Blanking is prevented reliably, though. To avoid inadverted
468 real burning, -dummy refuses burn runs on anything but CD-R[W],
469 DVD-R[W], or emulated stdio-drives.
470 -eject Eject the disc after work is done.
472 -force Assume that the user knows better in situations when cdrskin or
474 libburn are insecure about drive or media state. This includes
475 the attempt to blank media which are classified as unknown or
476 unsuitable, and the attempt to use write modes which libburn
477 believes they are not supported by the drive.
478 Another application is to enforce blanking or re-formatting of
479 media which appear to be in the desired blank or format state
480 already.
481 This option enables a burn run with option -dummy even if lib‐
482 burn believes that drive and media will not simulate the write
483 mode but will write for real.
484 It enables a burn run where cdrskin expects to exceed the avail‐
485 able media capacity.
486 Caution: Use this only when in urgent need.
487 -format
489 Same as blank=format_overwrite_full -force but restricted to
490 DVD+RW.
491 fs=size
493 Set the fifo size to the given value. The value may have
494 appended letters which multiply the preceding number:
495 "k" or "K" = 1024 , "m" or "M" = 1024k , "g" or "G" = 1024m ,
496 "s" or "S" = 2048
497 Set size to 0 in order to disable the fifo (default is "4m").
498 The fifo buffers an eventual temporary surplus of track source
499 data in order to provide the drive with a steady stream during
500 times of temporary lack of track source supply. The larger the
501 fifo, the longer periods of poor source supply can be compen‐
502 sated. But a large fifo needs substantial time to fill up if
503 not curbed via option fifo_start_at=size.
504 gracetime=seconds
506 Set the grace time before starting to write. (Default is 0)
507 -immed Equivalent to:
509 modesty_on_drive=1:min_percent=75:max_percent=95
510 The name of this cdrecord option stems from the "Immed" bit
511 which can make some long running drive commands asynchronous and
512 thus eases the load on some wiring hardware types. Regardless of
513 option -immed, cdrskin uses asynchronous commands where possible
514 and appropriate. To really disable asynchronous command execu‐
515 tion, use option use_immed_bit=off .
516 index=list
518 Set a comma separated list of index start address numbers for
519 the next track. This applies to CD SAO sessions only.
520 The addresses count sectors from the start of the next track.
521 The first number is for index 1 and must be 0. The following
522 numbers have to be larger than their respective predecessors. Up
523 to 99 numbers are allowed.
524 Sector numbers are computed from Min:Sec:Frame addresses by
525 Sector = ((Min*60)+Sec)*75+Frame
526 E.g.: "0,7512,20408" sets index 2 to 01:40:12 and index 3 to
527 04:32:08.
528 -inq Print the identification of the drive and then exit.
530 -isosize
532 The next track following this option will try to obtain its
533 source size from the header information out of the first few
534 blocks of the source data. If these blocks indicate an ISO-9660
535 filesystem then its declared size will be used under the assump‐
536 tion that it is a single session filesystem.
537 If not, then the burn run will be aborted.
538 The range of -isosize is exactly one track. Further tracks may
539 be preceded by further -isosize options, though. At least 15
540 blocks of padding will be added to each -isosize track. But be
541 advised to rather use padsize=300k.
542 This option can be performed on track sources which are regular
543 files or block devices. For the first track of the session it
544 can be performed on any type of source if there is a fifo of at
545 least 64 kiB. See option fs= .
546 isrc=text
548 Set the ISRC for the next track source to the given text, which
549 must be exactly 13 characters long. It must comply to the format
550 CCOOOYYSSSSS.
551 CC is the country code. OOO is the owner code. Both may consist
552 of capital letters A to Z and of decimal digits 0 to 9. YY
553 depicts the year (00 to 99). SSSSS is the serial number (00000
554 to 99999).
555 This option does not affect CD-TEXT but only the Q sub-channel.
556 -load Load the media and exit. Exit value is 0 if any kind of media
558 was found, non zero else. Note: Option -eject will unload the
559 media even if -load is given.
560 -lock Like option -load but leave the drive's eject button disabled if
562 there is any media found and not option -eject is given.
563 Use program "eject" or cdrskin -eject to get the tray out of the
564 drive. Runs of programs like cdrecord, growisofs, wodim,
565 cdrskin will not be hampered and normally enable the drive's
566 eject button when they are done.
567 mcn=text
569 Set the CD Media Catalog Number to text, which must be exactly
570 13 characters long and should consist of decimal digits.
571 This option does not affect CD-TEXT but only the Q sub-channel.
572 minbuf=percentage
574 Equivalent to:
575 modesty_on_drive=1:min_percent=<percentage>:max_percent=95
576 Percentage is permissible between 25 and 95.
577 -minfo Print information about the loaded media. This includes media
579 type, writability state, and a quite readable table of content.
580 msifile=path
582 Run option -msinfo and copy the result line into the file given
583 by path. Unlike -msinfo this option does not redirect all nor‐
584 mal output away from standard output. But it may be combined
585 with -msinfo to achieve this.
586 Note: msifile=path is actually an option of wodim and not of
587 cdrecord.
588 -msinfo
590 Retrieve multi-session info for preparing a follow-up session by
591 option -C of programs mkisofs, genisoimage, or xorriso -as
592 mkisofs. Print result to standard output. This option redi‐
593 rects to stderr all message output except the one of option
594 --tell_media_space and its own result string, which consists of
595 two numbers. The result string shall be used as argument of
596 option -C with said programs. It gives the start address of the
597 most recent session and the predicted start address of the next
598 session to be appended. The string is empty if the most recent
599 session was not written with option -multi.
600 To have a chance for working on overwriteable media, this option
601 has to be accompanied by option --grow_overwriteable_iso.
602 -multi This option keeps CD, unformatted DVD-R[W], DVD+R, or BD-R
604 appendable after the current session has been written. Without
605 it the disc gets closed and may not be written any more -
606 unless it is a -RW and gets blanked which causes loss of its
607 content.
608 The following sessions can only be written in -tao mode. -multi
609 is prohibited with DVD-R[W] DAO write mode and on DVD-R DL
610 media. Option --prodvd_cli_compatible eventually makes -multi
611 tolerable but cannot make it work.
612 In order to have all filesystem content accessible, the eventual
613 ISO-9660 filesystem of a follow-up session needs to be prepared
614 in a special way by the filesystem formatter program. mkisofs
615 and genisoimage expect particular info about the situation which
616 can be retrieved by cdrskin option -msinfo.
617 To retrieve an archive file which was written as follow-up ses‐
618 sion, you may use option -toc to learn about the "lba" of the
619 desired track number. This lba is the address of the 2048 byte
620 block where the archive begins.
621 With overwriteable DVD or BD media, -multi cannot mark the end
622 of the session. So when adding a new session this end has to be
623 determined from the payload. Currently only ISO-9660 filesys‐
624 tems can be used that way. See option --grow_overwriteable_iso
625 for lifting the ban on -multi.
626 Note: -multi might make DVD media unreadable in some DVD-ROM
627 drives.
628 -nocopy
630 Create subsequent tracks with permission for a single level of
631 copies. I.e. those copies would then be marked by -scms as
632 offering no permission for further copies.
633 -nopad Do not add trailing zeros to the data stream. Nevertheless,
635 since there seems to be no use for audio tracks with incomplete
636 last sector, this option applies only to data tracks. There it
637 is default.
638 -nopreemp
640 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered without
641 pre-emphasis.
642 -pad Add 30 kiB of trailing zeros to each data track. (This is not
644 sufficient to avoid problems with various CD-ROM read drivers.)
645 padsize=size
647 Add the given amount of trailing zeros to the next data track.
648 This option gets reset to padsize=0 after that next track is
649 written. It may be set again before the next track argument.
650 About size specifiers, see option fs=.
651 -preemp
653 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with pre-
654 emphasis.
655 -sao Write CD in Session At Once mode or sequential DVD-R[W] in Disc-
657 at-once (DAO) mode.
658 With CD this mode is able to put several audio tracks on media
659 without producing audible gaps between them.
660 With DVD-R[W] this mode can only write a single track. No
661 -multi is allowed with DVD-R[W] -sao.
662 -sao is permissible with overwriteable DVD, or DVD+R[/DL], or BD
663 but actually only imposes restrictions without providing known
664 advantages.
665 -sao can only be used for tracks of fixely predicted size. This
666 implies that track arguments which depict stdin or named pipes
667 need to be preceded by option tsize= or by option
668 tao_to_sao_tsize=.
669 -sao cannot be used on appendable media.
670 -scanbus
672 Scan the system for drives. On Linux the drives at /dev/s* and
673 at /dev/hd* are to be scanned by two separate runs. One without
674 dev= for /dev/s* and one with dev=ATA for /dev/hd* devices.
675 (Option --drives lists all available drives in a single run.)
676 Drives which are busy or which offer no rw-permission to the
677 user of cdrskin are not listed. Busy drives get reported in form
678 of warning messages.
679 The useful fields in a result line are:
680 Bus,Target,Lun Number) 'Vendor' 'Mode' 'Revision'
681 -scms Create subsequent tracks without permission for being copied.
683 This is usually done for tracks which are copies of tracks that
684 were marked with -nocopy (but not yet with -scms). So copies of
685 copies are prohibited.
686 This option gets reset by option -copy. Thus the combination
687 -copy -nocopy means -nocopy surely without -scms.
688 speed=number
690 Set speed of drive. With data CD, 1x speed corresponds to a
691 throughput of 153,600 bytes/second. With DVD, 1x = 1,385,000
692 bytes/second. With BD 1x = 4,495,625 bytes/second. It is not
693 an error to set a speed higher than is suitable for drive and
694 media. One should stay within a realistic speed range, though.
695 Special speed settings are:
696 0 = minimal speed , -1 = maximal speed (default), text "any" =
697 like -1.
698 -swab Announce that the raw audio data source of subsequent tracks is
700 byte swapped versus the expectations of cdrecord. This option is
701 suitable for audio where the least significant byte of a 16 bit
702 word is first (little-endian, Intel). Most raw audio data on PC
703 systems are available in this byte order. Less guesswork is
704 needed if track sources are in format MS-WAVE in a file with
705 suffix ".wav".
706 -tao Write CD in Track At Once (TAO) mode, sequential DVD-R[W] in
708 Incremental Streaming mode, or DVD+R[/DL] without traditional
709 -sao restrictions. This mode also applies pro-forma to over‐
710 writeable media
711 Mode -tao can be used with track sources of unpredictable size,
712 like standard input or named pipes. It is also the only mode
713 that can be used for writing to appendable media which already
714 hold data. With unformatted DVD-R[W] it is the only mode which
715 can keep media appendable by option -multi.
716 Mode -tao is not usable for minimally blanked DVD-RW and for
717 DVD-R DL.
718 -text Enable writing of CD-TEXT attributes read by option cuefile=.
720 Without option -text, cue sheet file command CDTEXTFILE will be
721 ignored and no CD-TEXT attributes will be read from the file.
722 Nevertheless, CATALOG and ISRC will have the same effect as
723 options mcn= and isrc=.
724 textfile=path
726 Read CD-TEXT packs from the file depicted by path and put them
727 into the Lead-in of the emerging session. This session has to be
728 done by Session At Once (SAO) mode and may only contain audio
729 tracks.
730 path must lead to a regular file, which consists of an optional
731 header of four bytes and one or more text packs of 18 bytes
732 each. Suitable would be the file 'cdtext.dat' which gets
733 extracted from CD media by options -vv -toc and shown in human
734 readable form by -vvv -toc.
735 The header, if present, must tell the file size minus 2, encoded
736 as big-endian 16 bit word. The other two bytes must be 0.
737 If there is no 4-byte header, then a trailing 0-byte, as of Sony
738 specification, is tolerated and ignored.
739 A text pack consists of a pack type byte, a track number byte, a
740 counter byte, a Block Number and Character Indicator byte, 12
741 text characters or data bytes, two optional CRC bytes. For
742 details see libburn documentation file doc/cdtext.txt.
743 By default, the input file is checked for correct CRC bytes. If
744 all CRC bytes are 0, then the correct values get silently
745 inserted. If there are non-zero CRC bytes, then a mismatch
746 causes the abort of the burn run. This check can be disabled by
747 option -force.
748 Note that this option overrides option input_sheet_v07t= .
749 -toc Print the table of content (TOC) which describes the tracks
751 recorded on disc. The output contains all info from option
752 -atip plus lines which begin with "track:", the track number,
753 the word "lba:" and a number which gives the start address of
754 the track. Addresses are counted in CD sectors which with SAO or
755 TAO data tracks hold 2048 bytes each.
756 If verbosity is set to level 2 (-v -v) then the CD-TEXT packs
757 from the lead-in of an audio CD get extracted and written into
758 file 'cdtext.dat', if that file does not yet exist. Prepended is
759 a 4 byte header, followed by one or more packs of 18 bytes each.
760 Verbosity level 3 causes the CD-TEXT packs to be printed as hex
761 numbers to standard output. Bytes 4 to 15 of certain pack types
762 are printed as ASCII characters if they have values in the range
763 of 32 to 126.
764 See option textfile= for more information about the text pack
765 format.
766 Example. Retrieve an afio archive from track number 2:
768 tracknumber=2
769 lba=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/cdrom -toc 2>&1 | \
770 grep '^track:[ ]*[ 0-9][0-9]' | \
771 tail +"$tracknumber" | head -1 | \
772 awk '{ print $4}' )
773 dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 skip="$lba" | \
774 afio -t - | less
775 tsize=size
777 Announces the exact size of the next track source. This is nec‐
778 essary with any write mode other than -tao if the track source
779 is not a regular disk file, but e.g. "-" (standard input) or a
780 named pipe. About size specifiers, see option fs=.
781 If the track source does not deliver the predicted amount of
782 bytes, the remainder of the track is padded with zeros. This is
783 not considered an error. If on the other hand the track source
784 delivers more than the announced bytes then the track on media
785 gets truncated to the predicted size and cdrskin exits with non-
786 zero value.
787 -v Increment verbosity level by one. Startlevel is 0 with only few
789 messages. Level 1 prints progress report with long running
790 operations and also causes some extra lines to be put out with
791 info retrieval options. Level 2 additionally reports about
792 option settings derived from arguments or startup files. Level 3
793 is for debugging and useful mainly in conjunction with somebody
794 who had a look into the program sourcecode.
795 -V Enable logging of SCSI commands to stderr. This is helpful for
797 expert examination of the interaction between libburn and the
798 drive. The commands are specified in SCSI-3 standards SPC, SBC,
799 MMC.
800 -waiti Wait until input data is available at stdin or EOF occurs at
802 stdin. Only then begin to access any drives.
803 One should use this if cdrskin is working at the end of a pipe
804 where the feeder process reads from the drive before it starts
805 writing its output into cdrskin. Example:
806 mkisofs ... -C 0,12800 -M /dev/sr0 | \
807 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 ... -waiti -
808 This option works even if stdin is not among the track sources.
809 If no process is piping in, then the Enter key of your terminal
810 will act as trigger for cdrskin. Note that this input line will
811 not be consumed by cdrskin if stdin is not among the track
812 sources. It will end up as shell command, usually.
813 Alphabetical list of options which are genuine to cdrskin and intended
815 for normal use:
816 --adjust_speed_to_drive
818 Curb explicitly given speed= values to the maximum which is
819 announced by the drive for the loaded media. By default, such an
820 adjustment is only made with pseudo-speeds 0 and -1 whereas
821 speed settings > 0 are sent unchanged to the drive which will
822 then choose an appropriate speed on its own.
823 --allow_emulated_drives
825 Enable drive addresses of the form dev=stdio:<path>. See above,
826 paragraph "Drive preparation and addressing".
827 --allow_setuid
829 Disable the loud warning about insecure discrepance between
830 login user and effective user which indicates application of
831 chmod u+s to the program binary. One should not do this chmod
832 u+s , but it is an old cdrecord tradition.
833 --any_track
835 Allow source_addresses to begin with "-" (plus further charac‐
836 ters) or to contain a "=" character. By default such arguments
837 are seen as misspelled options. It is nevertheless not possible
838 to use one of the options listed with --list_ignored_options.
839 assert_write_lba=block_number|byte_address
841 Abort if the write address given with this option is not the
842 same as predicted immediately before the write session starts.
843 This option can ensure that a start address which was presumed
844 by a formatter like mkisofs -C is really used by the drive for
845 writing. assert_write_lba=0 effectively demands blank media and
846 excludes appendables.
847 Block numbering is peculiar: If the last character of the option
848 string is a letter [a-zA-Z] then the usual unit scaling by "s",
849 "k", "m", etc. applies and the result is divided by 2048. Else
850 the number value of the string is taken as plain block number
851 with block size 2048 byte. (E.g ...=1000 or ...=1000s means
852 block 1000, ...=1m means block 512, ...=4096b means block number
853 2)
854 cd_start_tno=number
856 Set the number which shall be written as CD track number with
857 the first track of the session. The following tracks will then
858 get written with consecutive CD track numbers. The resulting
859 number of the last track must not exceed 99. The lowest possible
860 start number is 1, which is also the default.
861 This setting applies only to CD SAO writing. It overrides the
862 track number settings caused by options cuefile= or
863 input_sheet_v07t=.
864 cdtext_to_textfile=path
866 Extract the CD-TEXT packs from the lead-in of an audio CD and
867 write them to the file with the given path. If CD-TEXT can be
868 retrieved, then this file will be suitable for option textfile=.
869 Not all drives can read CD-TEXT and not all audio CDs bear CD-
870 TEXT. It is not considered an error if no CD-TEXT is available.
871 cdtext_to_v07t=path
873 Extract the CD-TEXT packs from the lead-in of an audio CD and
874 write them as human readable Sony Input Sheet Version 0.7T to
875 the file with the given path. If CD-TEXT can be retrieved, then
876 this file will be suitable for option input_sheet_v07t=.
877 If the given path is "-", then the result is printed to standard
878 output.
879 Not all drives can read CD-TEXT and not all audio CDs bear CD-
880 TEXT. It is not considered an error if no CD-TEXT is available.
881 --demand_a_drive
883 Exit with a nonzero value if no drive can be found during a bus
884 scan.
885 --devices
887 List the device file addresses of all accessible CD drives. In
888 order to get listed, a drive has to offer rw-permission for the
889 cdrskin user and it may not be busy. The superuser should be
890 able to see all idle drives listed and busy drives reported as
891 "SORRY" messages.
892 Each available drive gets listed by a line containing the fol‐
893 lowing fields:
894 Number dev='Devicefile' rw-Permissions : 'Vendor' 'Model'
895 Number and Devicefile can both be used with option dev=, but
896 number is volatile (numbering changes if drives become busy).
897 --device_links
899 Like --devices, but presenting the drives with addresses of sym‐
900 bolic links which point to the actual device files.
901 Modern GNU/Linux systems may shuffle drive addresses from boot
902 to boot. The udev daemon is supposed to create links which
903 always point to the same drive, regardless of its system
904 address. Option --device_links shows the addresses of such
905 links if they begin by "/dev/dvd" or "/dev/cd". Precedence is:
906 "dvdrw", "cdrw", "dvd", "cdrom", "cd".
907 direct_write_amount=size
909 Do not write a session with tracks but rather make an appropri‐
910 ate number of direct write operations with no preparations.
911 Flushing the drive buffer will be the only finalization. It is
912 advised to eject the media afterwards because the write opera‐
913 tions circumvent the usual system i/o with its caches and buf‐
914 fers. By ejecting, those invalid memory copies get surely dis‐
915 carded.
916 Only few media can be written this way: DVD-RAM, BD-RE, RVD+RW
917 and overwriteable DVD-RW. Writing is restricted to the already
918 formatted area of the media.
919 Writing starts at byte 0 of the media or at the address given by
920 option write_start_address= . Only the first track source is
921 used as input for the write operations. The fifo (fs=) is dis‐
922 abled.
923 Parameter size controls the amount of data to be written. Size 0
924 means that the track source shall be used up until EOF. In this
925 case, the last write transaction gets padded up to the necessary
926 size by zeros. Size -1 revokes direct writing and switches back
927 to normal session oriented writing.
928 Both, write_start_address and direct_write_amount size must be
929 aligned to a media dependent transaction size. With DVD-RAM, BD-
930 RE, DVD+RW this is 2k, with overwriteable DVD-RW it is 32k.
931 dvd_obs=default|32k|64k
933 Set the number of bytes to be transmitted with each write opera‐
934 tion to DVD or BD media. With most write types, tracks get
935 padded up to the next multiple of this write size (see option
936 --obs_pad). A number of 64 KB may improve throughput with sys‐
937 tems which show latency problems. The default depends on media
938 type, option stream_recording=, and on compile time options.
939 extract_audio_to=directory_path
941 Extract tracks from an audio CD as separate WAVE audio files
942 into the given directory. This directory has to already exist,
943 but none of the track files may exist. This option will rather
944 fail than overwrite an existing file.
945 By default all tracks of the CD are extracted to files with
946 names trackNN.wav, where NN is the track number from 01 to at
947 most 99.
948 extract_basename=name
950 Set a filename which shall be used by extract_audio_to= instead
951 of the default name "track".
952 --extract_dap
954 Enable Digital Audio Play flaw obscuring mechanisms like audio
955 data mute and interpolate.
956 extract_tracks=number[,number[,...]]
958 Set a list of track numbers to define which tracks shall be
959 extracted by extract_audio_to=. If no extract_tracks= is given,
960 then all audio tracks get extracted. It is permissible to have
961 more than one extract_tracks= option in order to split a long
962 list into shorter pieces.
963 The lowest permissible track number is 1, the highest is 99.
964 fallback_program=command
966 Set a command name to be executed if cdrskin encounters a known
967 cdrecord option which it does not yet support. If a non-empty
968 command is given with fallback_program=, and if no essential
969 options are given which are specific to cdrskin, then cdrskin
970 will delegate the job to said command.
971 The natural commands to be given are cdrecord or wodim but one
972 may well submit the address of an own program.
973 The fallback program will get all arguments of cdrskin which do
974 not match the shell patterns --?* or *_*=* . This eventually
975 suppresses path names of track sources which happen to match
976 those patterns. The options from the startup files are not
977 handed to the fallback program.
978 Fallback program execution is disabled if cdrskin is run setuid
979 and not option --allow_setuid is given. In general, the drive's
980 device files and the involved programs should be set up so that
981 each program runs under its advised conditions. (E.g. cdrskin as
982 member of group floppy, cdrecord setuid root.)
983 Two alias names for cdrskin are predefined with default fallback
984 programs:
985 unicord implies fallback_program=cdrecord
986 codim implies fallback_program=wodim
987 --four_channel
989 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with four
990 channels.
991 fifo_start_at=size
993 Do not wait for full fifo but start burning as soon as the given
994 number of bytes is read. This option may be helpful to bring the
995 average throughput near to the maximum throughput of a drive. A
996 large fs= and a small fifo_start_at= combine a quick burn start
997 and a large savings buffer to compensate for temporary lack of
998 source data. At the beginning of burning, the software protec‐
999 tion against buffer underrun is as weak as the size of
1000 fifo_start_at= . So it is best if the drive offers hardware pro‐
1001 tection which is enabled automatically if not driveropts=noburn‐
1002 free is given.
1003 --grow_overwriteable_iso
1005 Enable emulation of multi-session writing on overwriteable media
1006 which contain an ISO-9660 filesystem. This emulation is learned
1007 from growisofs -M but adapted to the usage model of
1008 cdrskin -msinfo
1009 mkisofs -C -M | cdrskin -waiti [-multi] -
1010 --grow_overwriteable_iso does not hamper the use of true multi-
1011 session media. I.e. it is possible to use the same cdrskin
1012 options with both kinds of media and to achieve similar results
1013 if ISO-9660 filesystem images are to be written. This option
1014 implies option -isosize and therefore demands that the track
1015 source is a ISO-9660 filesystem image.
1016 With overwriteable media and no option blank=fast|all present it
1017 expands an eventual ISO-9660 filesystem on media. It is assumed
1018 that this image's inner size description points to the end of
1019 the valuable data. Overwriteable media with a recognizable
1020 ISO-9660 size will be regarded as appendable rather than as
1021 blank. I.e. options -msinfo and -toc will work. -toc will
1022 always show a single session with its size increasing with every
1023 added mkisofs image.
1024 If not overridden by option write_start_address=, the track with
1025 the new image will be placed behind the end of the old one. One
1026 may use option assert_write_lba= to make sure that media state
1027 and mkisofs job do match.
1028 --grow_overwriteable_iso causes option blank=fast|all to invali‐
1029 date an eventual ISO-9660 image by altering the first few bytes
1030 of block 16 on overwriteable media. Option -multi is tolerated
1031 in order not to hamper true multi-session media.
1032 An equivalent of growisofs -Z for overwriteable media is:
1033 mkisofs | cdrskin --grow_overwriteable_iso blank=fast [-multi] -
1034 With multi-session DVD, blank=fast will act like dvd+rw-format
1035 -blank=full .
1036 growisofs -dvd-compat is roughly equivalent to cdrskin without
1037 option -multi.
1038 input_sheet_v07t=path
1040 Read CD-TEXT definitions from a Sony Input Sheet version 0.7T.
1041 Up to eight or seven such sheets can be read by multiple
1042 input_sheet_v07t= options. Each will define one CD-TEXT lan‐
1043 guage block.
1044 The first line of a sheet file decides whether more than one
1045 sheet may be defined by the file. If it is
1046 Input Sheet Version = 0.7T
1047 then each further line with that text switches to the next sheet
1048 for the next block. If it is not, then all definitions apply to
1049 a single block.
1050 The information in such a sheet is given by text lines of the
1051 following form:
1052 purpose specifier [whitespace] = [whitespace] content text
1053 [whitespace] is zero or more ASCII 32 (space) or ASCII 9 (tab)
1054 characters. The purpose specifier tells the meaning of the con‐
1055 tent text. Empty content text does not cause a CD-TEXT
1056 attribute to be attached.
1057 The following purpose specifiers apply to the session as a
1058 whole:
1059 Purpose specifier | Content example
1060 -------------------------------------------------------------
1061 Text Code = 8859
1062 Language Code = English
1063 Album Title = Joyful Nights
1064 Artist Name = United Cat Orchestra
1065 Songwriter = Various Songwriters
1066 Composer = Various Composers
1067 Arranger = Tom Cat
1068 Album Message = For all our fans
1069 Catalog Number = 1234567890
1070 Genre Code = Classical
1071 Genre Information = Feline classic music
1072 Closed Information = This is not to be shown by CD players
1073 UPC / EAN = 1234567890123
1074 Text Data Copy Protection = OFF
1075 First Track Number = 1
1076 Last Track Number = 3
1077 The following purpose specifiers apply to particular tracks:
1078 Purpose specifier | Content example
1079 -------------------------------------------------------------
1080 Track 01 Title = Song of Joy
1081 Track 01 Artist = Felix and The Purrs
1082 Track 01 Songwriter = Friedrich Schiller
1083 Track 01 Composer = Ludwig van Beethoven
1084 Track 01 Arranger = Tom Cat
1085 Track 01 Message = Fritz and Louie once were punks
1086 ISRC 01 = XYCRR1101234
1087 Track numbers are decimal despite the leading 0. There should be
1088 as many track definitions as there are track source files given.
1089 See libburn's doc/cdtext.txt for a detailed definition of 0.7T
1090 and the possible values for Text Code, Language Code, Genre
1091 Code, Text Data Copy Protection.
1092 The Q sub-channel settings by "UPC / EAN" and "ISRC" may be
1093 overridden by options mcn= and isrc=. This will not affect
1094 their appearance as CD-TEXT. They may override cuefile= com‐
1095 mands CATALOG and ISRC in the same way.
1096 If options -text cuefile= are given and if the cue sheet file
1097 defines CD-TEXT, then only seven input_sheet_v07t= options may
1098 be given. They will then be used as CD-TEXT language blocks 1 to
1099 7.
1100 This option will get into effect only if no option textfile= is
1101 given. The write mode must be SAO on CD. All tracks must be
1102 -audio tracks.
1103 The track numbers may be overridden by option cd_start_tno=.
1104 --list_formats
1106 List the available format descriptors as reported by the drive
1107 for the loaded media. Each descriptor line begins with "Format
1108 idx" and the descriptor's list index, followed by a ":", the
1109 format type, the number of payload blocks and that same number
1110 converted to MiB.
1111 The meaning of the format types is defined by the MMC standard
1112 with command FORMAT UNIT. A user will more be interested in the
1113 sizes than in the types.
1114 --list_ignored_options
1116 List all ignored cdrecord options. The "-" options cannot be
1117 used as addresses of track sources. No track source address may
1118 begin with a text equal to an option which ends by "=". The list
1119 is ended by an empty line.
1120 --list_speeds
1122 Put out a list of speed values as reported by the output drive
1123 with the loaded medium. This does not necessarily mean that the
1124 medium is writable or that these speeds are actually achievable.
1125 Especially the lists reported with empty drive or with ROM media
1126 obviously advertise speeds for other media.
1127 It is not mandatory to use speed values out of the listed range.
1128 The drive is supposed to choose a safe speed that is as near to
1129 the desired speed as possible.
1130 At the end of the list, "Write speed L" and "Write speed H" are
1131 the best guesses for lower and upper speed limit. "Write speed
1132 l" and "Write speed h" may appear only with CD and eventually
1133 override the list of other speed offers.
1134 Only if the drive reports contradicting speed information there
1135 will appear "Write speed 0" or "Write speed-1", which tell the
1136 outcome of speed selection by options speed=0 or speed=-1, if it
1137 deviates from "Write speed L" or "Write speed H", respectively.
1138 --long_toc
1140 Like option -toc but marking each session start by a line
1141 "first: X last: Y" and each session end by "track:lout ...".
1142 --no_load
1144 When aquiring the optical drive, do not try to load its tray.
1145 This yields the same behavior for desktop drives with tray
1146 loader as is shown by laptop drives which usually lack a motor‐
1147 ized tray loader.
1148 --no_rc
1150 Only if used as first command line argument this option prevents
1151 reading and interpretation of eventual startup files. See sec‐
1152 tion FILES below.
1153 --pacifier_with_newline
1155 Adds a newline character to each pacifier line that would else‐
1156 wise be overwritten by the next pacifier line. Such lines are
1157 emitted during a run of writing, formatting, or blanking if
1158 option -v is given.
1159 --prodvd_cli_compatible
1161 Activates behavior modifications with some DVD situations which
1162 bring cdrskin nearer to the behavior of cdrecord-ProDVD:
1163 Option -multi with unsuitable media is not an error but simply
1164 has no effect.
1165 Options blank=fast and blank=all deformat overwriteable DVD-RW
1166 media.
1167 Option blank=fast does indeed minmal blanking with DVD-RW. This
1168 may yield media which can only do DAO but not Incremental
1169 Streaming.
1170 --single_track
1172 Accept only the last argument of the command line as track
1173 source address.
1174 stdio_sync=on|off|number
1176 Set the number of bytes after which to force output to drives
1177 with prefix "stdio:". This forcing keeps the memory from being
1178 clogged with lots of pending data for slow devices. Default "on"
1179 is the same as "16m". Forced output can be disabled by "off".
1180 stream_recording=on|off|number
1182 By setting "on" request that compliance to the desired speed
1183 setting is preferred over management of write errors. With DVD-
1184 RAM and BD this can bring effective write speed near to the nom‐
1185 inal write speed of the media. But it will also disable the
1186 automatic use of replacement blocks if write errors occur. It
1187 might as well be disliked or ignored by the drive.
1188 If a number is given, then error management stays enabled for
1189 all byte addresses below that number. Any number below 16s is
1190 the same as "off".
1191 tao_to_sao_tsize=size
1193 Set an exact fixed size for the next track to be in effect only
1194 if the track source cannot deliver a size prediction and no
1195 tsize= was specified and an exact track size prediction is
1196 demanded by the write mode.
1197 This was the fallback from bad old times when cdrskin was unable
1198 to burn in mode -tao . It came back with minimally blanked DVD-
1199 RW, which cannot do Incremental Streaming (-tao), and with
1200 explicitly selected write mode -sao for best DVD-ROM compatibil‐
1201 ity.
1202 If the track source delivers less bytes than announced then the
1203 missing ones will be filled with zeros.
1204 --tell_media_space
1206 Prepare a recording session, do not perform it but rather
1207 inquire the maximum number of 2048 byte data blocks which may be
1208 written in the current state of media with the prepared setup.
1209 So this option disables recording of data. It does not disable
1210 blanking, though, and will measure space afterwards.
1211 It is not mandatory to give track sources but their nature may
1212 influence the available capacity. So for most realistic results
1213 one may set up the full burn session and add --tell_media_space.
1214 But if one has to expect a cdrskin version prior to 0.3.3 no
1215 track source should be given in order not to start an involun‐
1216 tary burn session. In this case set at least -sao or -tao
1217 explicitly.
1218 The result gets printed to standard output. It is 0 or empty if
1219 no writing is possible with the given options. This option
1220 redirects to stderr all message output except its own result
1221 string and eventual output of -msinfo.
1222 textfile_to_v07t=path
1224 Read a CD-TEXT pack file (e.g. cdtext.dat from a run with -v -v
1225 -toc) and print its content in the human readable format that is
1226 described with option input_sheet_v07t=.
1227 The program run ends immediately thereafter. No drive scan will
1228 happen and no drive will be acquired.
1229 To avoid the cdrskin start message in the output, run:
1230 cdrskin textfile_to_v07t=cdtext.dat | grep -v '^cdrskin'
1231 --two_channel
1233 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with two
1234 channels.
1235 write_start_address=byte_offset
1237 Set the address on media where to start writing the track. With
1238 DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or BD-RE byte_offset must be aligned to 2 kiB
1239 blocks, but better is 32 kiB. With DVD-RW 32 kiB alignment is
1240 mandatory.
1241 Other media are not suitable for this option yet.
1242 modesty_on_drive=<mode>[:parameter=<value>[:parameter=<value>...]]
1244 Mode 1 keeps the program from trying to write to the burner
1245 drive while its buffer is in danger to be filled by more than
1246 parameter "max_percent". If this filling is exceeded then the
1247 program will wait until the filling is at most the value of
1248 parameter "min_percent".
1249 Percentages are permissible in the range of 25 to 100.
1250 This can ease the load on operating system and drive controller
1251 and thus help with achieving better input bandwidth if disk and
1252 burner are not on independent controllers (like hda and hdb).
1253 Unsufficient input bandwidth is indicated by output "(fifo
1254 xy%)" of option -v if xy is lower than 90 for some time. mod‐
1255 esty_on_drive= might hamper output bandwidth and cause buffer
1256 underruns.
1257 A new use case is to work around the poor simultaneous perfor‐
1258 mance of multiple burn runs on Linux kernel 3.16 and alike. Here
1259 it is not about giving the hard disk enough time to fill the
1260 fifo, but about keeping ioctl(SG_IO) from blocking for a longer
1261 time and thus blocking all other burn runs.
1262 To have max_percent larger than the burner's best actual buffer
1263 fill has the same effect as min_percent==max_percent. Some burn‐
1264 ers do not use their full buffer with all media types. Watch
1265 output "[buf xy%]" of option -v to get an impression of the
1266 actual buffer usage. Some burners are not suitable because they
1267 report buffer fill with granularity too large in size or time,
1268 or because they go to full speed only when their buffer is full.
1269 If a write attempt is delayed, the program will wait for a num‐
1270 ber of microseconds which is given by parameter "min_usec"
1271 before inquiring the buffer again. If more retries occur, this
1272 waiting time between inquiries increases up to the value of
1273 parameter "max_usec".
1274 If the delay lasts longer than the number of seconds given by
1275 parameter "timeout_sec", then mode 1 is set 0 and normal burning
1276 goes on.
1277 Mode 0 disables this feature. Mode -1 keeps it unchanged.
1278 Default is:
1279 0:min_percent=65:max_percent=95:timeout_sec=120:
1280 min_usec=10000:max_usec=100000
1281 The defaults of cdrskin are good for IDE problems. With concur‐
1282 rent Linux SG_IO problems on modern hardware, higher min_percent
1283 and lower usec might yield better buffer fills while still
1284 avoiding the problem:
1285 min_percent=90:max_percent=95:min_usec=5000:max_usec=25000
1286 Alphabetical list of options which are only intended for very special
1288 situations and not for normal use:
1289 --abort_handler
1291 Establish default signal handling not to leave a drive in busy
1292 state but rather to shut it down and to wait until it has ended
1293 the final operations. This option is only needed for revoking
1294 eventual --ignore_signals or --no_abort_handler.
1295 --allow_untested_media
1297 Enable the use of media profiles which have been implemented but
1298 not yet tested. Currently this option is without effect because
1299 no media types are under test reservation.
1300 (If you really test experimental media, then please report the
1301 outcome on libburn-hackers@pykix.org)
1302 --cdtext_dummy
1304 Prepare a burn run, report the effective array of CD-TEXT packs
1305 to stdout, and then end the program run without starting to burn
1306 the session. A blank CD-R or CD-RW has to be present in the
1307 drive, nevertheless.
1308 The output is formatted in lines which describe 18 bytes as
1309 2-digit hex numbers or as single printable characters. See lib‐
1310 burn document doc/cdtext.txt about the format of these records.
1311 --cdtext_verbose
1313 Like --cdtext_dummy but without preventing the burn run. Combin‐
1314 able with option -dummy to exercise a CD burn run with no per‐
1315 sistent impact on the medium.
1316 dev_translation=<sep><from><sep><to>
1318 Set drive address alias. This was necessary before cdrskin-0.2.4
1319 to manually translate cdrecord addresses into cdrskin addresses.
1320 <sep> is a single character which may not occur in the address
1321 string <from>. <from> is an address as expected to be given by
1322 the user via option dev=. <to> is the address to be used instead
1323 whenever <from> is given. More than one translation instruction
1324 can be given in one cdrskin run.
1325 E.g.: dev_translation=+ATA:1,0,0+/dev/sr1 dev_transla‐
1326 tion=+ATA:1,1,0+/dev/sr2
1327 --drive_abort_on_busy
1329 Linux specific: Abort process if a busy drive is encountered.
1330 --drive_blocking
1332 Linux specific: Try to wait for a busy drive to become free.
1333 This is not guaranteed to work with all drivers. Some need non‐
1334 blocking i/o.
1335 --drive_f_setlk
1337 Linux specific: Try to get exclusive lock on drive device file
1338 via fcntl(2).
1339 --drive_not_exclusive
1341 Linux specific: Combine --drive_not_f_setlk and
1342 --drive_not_o_excl.
1343 --drive_not_f_setlk
1345 Linux specific: Do not try to get exclusive lock on drive device
1346 file via fcntl(2).
1347 --drive_not_o_excl
1349 Linux specific: Do not ask the operating system to prevent open‐
1350 ing busy drives. Whether this leads to senseful behavior
1351 depends on operating system and kernel.
1352 drive_scsi_dev_family=sr|scd|sg
1354 Linux specific: Select a SCSI device file family to be scanned
1355 for by options --devices, --device_links and -scanbus. Normally
1356 this is /dev/sgN on kernel versions < 2.6 and /dev/srN on ker‐
1357 nels >= 2.6 . This option explicitly overrides that default in
1358 order to meet other programs at a common device file for each
1359 drive. On kernel 2.4 families sr and scd will find no drives.
1360 Device file family /dev/hdX on kernel >= 2.6 is not affected by
1361 this setting.
1362 --drive_scsi_exclusive
1364 Linux specific: Try to exclusively reserve device files
1365 /dev/srN, /dev/scdM, /dev/sgK of drives. This would be helpful
1366 to protect against collisions with program growisofs. Regret‐
1367 tably on Linux kernel 2.4 with ide-scsi emulation this seems not
1368 to work. Whether it becomes helpful with new Linux systems has
1369 to be evaluated.
1370 --fifo_disable
1372 Disable fifo despite any fs=.
1373 --fifo_per_track
1375 Use a separate fifo for each track.
1376 --fill_up_media
1378 Expand the last track of the session to occupy all remaining
1379 free space on the media.
1380 This option overrides option -multi. It will not fill up media
1381 if option -sao is given with CD media.
1382 Caution: With multi-session media this option might increase
1383 readatibility on DVD-ROM drives but with some DVD recorders and
1384 media types it might also fail to produce readable media at all.
1385 "Your mileage may vary".
1386 You can expect the best possible read compatibility if you do
1387 not use -multi at all.
1388 grab_drive_and_wait=seconds
1390 Open the addressed drive, wait the given number of seconds,
1391 release the drive, and do normal work as indicated by the other
1392 options used. This option helps to explore the program behavior
1393 when faced with busy drives. Just start a second cdrskin with
1394 option --devices while grab_drive_and_wait= is still active.
1395 --ignore_signals
1397 Try to ignore any signals rather than to abort the program. This
1398 is not a very good idea. You might end up waiting a very long
1399 time for cdrskin to finish.
1400 --list_features
1402 List the SCSI/MMC features which were obtained from the drive
1403 when it was last acquired or re-assessed. Although this is bet‐
1404 ter readable than the raw reply to SCSI command GET CONFIGURA‐
1405 TION, the MMC specification text is still needed for interpret‐
1406 ing it.
1407 The list consists of line groups of the form
1408 Code +/- : Name : Version,P/N
1409 Raw feature data bytes as hex numbers
1410 Parsed info as Name=Value pairs
1411 The headline is the only one which has no blank at its start.
1412 Code is given as 16 bit hex number.
1413 "+" marks a currently offered feature. "-" marks those which may
1414 be offered under different circumstances.
1415 Name is the feature name as listed in MMC specs.
1416 "P" marks persistent features. "N" marks non-persistent fea‐
1417 tures.
1418 The Raw data can occupy more than one line. No "=" occurs in
1419 such lines. If no raw data are present, one line with some
1420 blanks is listed instead.
1421 The Parsed info shows some extracted field values with names
1422 which resemble the names used in the MMC description of the par‐
1423 ticular feature. Parsed info lines contain at least one
1424 Name=Value pair. More than one line is possible. If no parsed
1425 info is produced, one line with some blanks is listed instead.
1426 Example:
1427 0107 - : Real Time Streaming : 4,N
1428 1f 00 00 00
1429 RBCB=1 , SCS=1 , MP2A=1 , WSPD=1 , SW=1
1430 --no_abort_handler
1432 On signals exit even if the drive is in busy state. This is not
1433 a very good idea. You might end up with a stuck drive that
1434 refuses to hand out the media.
1435 --no_blank_appendable
1437 Refuse to blank appendable CD-RW or DVD-RW. This is a feature
1438 that was once builtin with libburn. No information available for
1439 what use case it was needed.
1440 --no_convert_fs_adr
1442 Do only literal translations of dev=. This prevents cdrskin from
1443 test-opening device files in order to find one that matches the
1444 given dev= specifier.
1445 Partly Linux specific: Such opening is needed for Bus,Target,Lun
1446 addresses unless option --old_pseudo_scsi_adr is given. It is
1447 also needed to resolve device file addresses which are not
1448 listed with cdrskin --devices but nevertheless point to a usable
1449 drive. (Like /dev/sg0 using the same SCSI address as /dev/sr0.)
1450 --obs_pad
1452 Pad the data of last write operation of a DVD-R[W] DAO session
1453 or stdio: pseudo-drive up to the full size of an output chunk.
1454 This padding has to be applied automatically to the other DVD
1455 and BD media types, where it causes e.g. ISO images to have
1456 trailing unclaimed blocks.
1457 Use this option if there is the suspicion that DAO sessions
1458 abort with your kernel and/or DVD drive, if their size is not a
1459 multiple of 16 blocks.
1460 This option may also get enabled at compile time of libburn.
1461 --old_pseudo_scsi_adr
1463 Linux specific: Use and report literal Bus,Target,Lun addresses
1464 rather than real SCSI and pseudo ATA addresses. This method is
1465 outdated and was never compatible with original cdrecord.
1466 sao_postgap=off|number
1468 Define whether a post-gap shall be written at the end of the
1469 track and how many sectors this gap shall have. A post-gap occu‐
1470 pies the range of an additional index of the track. It contains
1471 zeros. No bytes from the track source will be read for writing
1472 the post-gap.
1473 This setting affects only CD SAO write runs.
1474 sao_pregap=off|number
1476 Define whether a pre-gap shall be written before the track and
1477 how many sectors this pre-gap shall have. A pre-gap is written
1478 in the range of track index 0 and contains zeros. No bytes from
1479 the track source will be read for writing the pre-gap.
1480 This setting affects only CD SAO write runs.
1481 The first track automatically gets a pre-gap of at least 150
1482 sectors. Its size can only be enlarged by this call.
1483 use_immed_bit=on|off|default
1485 Control whether several long lasting SCSI commands shall be exe‐
1486 cuted with the Immed bit, which makes the commands end early
1487 while the drive operation is still going on. cdrskin then
1488 inquires progress indication until the drive reports to be ready
1489 again. If this feature is turned off, then blanking and format‐
1490 ting will show no progress indication.
1491 It may depend on the operating system whether use_immed_bit= is
1492 set to "off" by default.
1493 --xa1-ignore
1495 Silently interpret option -xa1 as -data. This may be necessary
1496 if a frontend does not prepare -xa1 block headers but insists in
1497 using option -xa1.
1498
1500 Get an overview of drives and their addresses:
1501 cdrskin -scanbus
1502 cdrskin dev=ATA -scanbus
1503 cdrskin --device_links
1504 Get info about a particular drive or loaded media:
1506 cdrskin dev=0,1,0 -checkdrive
1507 cdrskin dev=ATA:1,0,0 -v -atip
1508 cdrskin dev=/dev/hdc -minfo
1509 Prepare CD-RW or DVD-RW for re-use, DVD-RAM or BD-RE for first use:
1511 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sg1 blank=as_needed -eject
1512 Format DVD-RW to avoid need for blanking before re-use:
1514 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=format_overwrite
1515 De-format DVD-RW to make it capable of multi-session again:
1517 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=deformat_sequential
1518 Write ISO-9660 filesystem image as only one to blank or formatted media:
1520 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/hdc speed=12 fs=8m \
1521 blank=as_needed -eject padsize=300k my_image.iso
1522 Write compressed afio archive on-the-fly (not possible with minimally
1524 blanked DVD-RW or DVD-R DL):
1525 find . | afio -oZ - | \
1526 cdrskin -v dev=0,1,0 fs=32m speed=8 \
1527 blank=as_needed padsize=300k -
1528 Write multi-session to the same CD, DVD-R[W], DVD+R[/DL], or BD-R:
1530 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 1.iso
1531 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 2.iso
1532 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 3.iso
1533 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k 4.iso
1534 Get multi-session info for option -C of program mkisofs:
1536 c_values=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/hdc -msinfo 2>/dev/null)
1537 mkisofs ... -C "$c_values" ...
1538 Inquire free space on media for a -multi run:
1540 x=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -multi \
1541 --tell_media_space 2>/dev/null)
1542 echo "Available: $x blocks of 2048 data bytes"
1543 Write audio tracks and CD-TEXT to CD:
1545 cdrskin -v dev=ATA:1,0,0 speed=48 -sao \
1546 input_sheet_v07t=cdtext.v07t \
1547 track1.wav track2.au -audio -swab track3.raw
1548 Extract audio tracks and CD-TEXT from CD into directory /home/me/my_cd:
1550 mkdir /home/me/my_cd
1551 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 extract_audio_to=/home/me/my_cd \
1552 cdtext_to_v07t=/home/me/my_cd/cdtext.v07t
1553
1555 Startup files:
1556 If not --no_rc is given as the first argument then cdrskin attempts on
1557 startup to read the arguments from the following files:
1558 /etc/default/cdrskin
1560 /etc/opt/cdrskin/rc
1561 /etc/cdrskin/cdrskin.conf
1562 $HOME/.cdrskinrc
1563 The files are read in the sequence given above, but none of them is
1565 required for cdrskin to function properly. Each readable line is
1566 treated as one single argument. No extra blanks. A first character '#'
1567 marks a comment, empty lines are ignored.
1568 Example content of a startup file:
1569 # This is the default device
1570 dev=0,1,0
1571 # Some more options
1572 fifo_start_at=0
1573 fs=16m
1574 Disabling superuser safety precautions:
1576 The superuser is normally banned from using any other emulated drive
1577 but /dev/null. This ban can be lifted by the existence of file
1578 /root/cdrskin_permissions/allow_emulated_drives
1580 where the directory must be owned by the superuser and must not offer
1582 w-permissions for group or others.
1583 Warning: Superusers must take care not to spoil their hard disk via its
1584 raw block device (like stdio:/dev/hda or stdio:/dev/sd0).
1585
1588 Formatting data track sources for cdrskin:
1589 mkisofs(8), genisoimage(8), xorriso(1), afio(1), star(1)
1590 Other CD/DVD/BD burn programs:
1592 cdrecord(1), wodim(1), xorriso(1)
1593 For DVD/BD burning (also tutor of libburn's DVD/BD capabilities):
1595 growisofs(1)
1596
1598 cdrskin was written by Thomas Schmitt <scdbackup@gmx.net>.
1599 This manual page was started by George Danchev <danchev@spnet.net> and
1601 is now maintained by Thomas Schmitt.
1602 Version 1.5.4, Jan 30, 2021 CDRSKIN(1)