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 de‐
51 scription from a text file and to read the session content from a sin‐
52 gle 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 in‐
61 formation 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 de‐
71 fault.
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 de‐
83 tectable end-of-archive in their data are suitable, though. Well tested
84 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 op‐
94 tion 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 me‐
101 dia 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 In‐
133 cremental 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. In‐
138 cremental Streaming may be selected explicitly by option -tao as it re‐
139 sembles 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 ex‐
145 cept that each track gets wrapped in an own session. There is no -dummy
146 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=format_de‐
173 fectmgt .
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 op‐
200 tion 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 de‐
218 vices 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 op‐
283 tion.)
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 op‐
303 tions.)
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 de‐
316 fault formatting is chosen. If other media or states are
317 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 pa‐
337 tience 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 de‐
367 scriptor.
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 op‐
396 tion --list_formats. The numbers after text "Format idx"
397 are the ones to be used with format_by_index_. Format de‐
398 scriptor lists are volatile. Do neither eject nor write
399 the media between the run of --list_formats and the run
400 of blank=format_by_index_ or else you may get a different
401 format than desired.
402 help Print this list of blanking types.
404 -checkdrive
406 Retrieve some info about the addressed drive and then exit. Ex‐
407 its with non-zero value if the drive cannot be found and opened.
408 -copy Create the subsequent tracks with permission for an unlimited
410 number of copies.
411 cuefile=path
413 Read a session description from a cue sheet file in CDRWIN for‐
414 mat. Base the tracks on a single file which is given in the
415 sheet by command FILE. To enable CD-TEXT from the cue sheet
416 file, cdrskin option -text has to be present.
417 cdrskin currently supports TRACK datatypes AUDIO and MODE1/2048
418 which may not be mixed. Data source may be of FILE type BINARY,
419 MOTOROLA, or WAVE.
420 Non-CDRWIN commands ARRANGER, COMPOSER, MESSAGE are supported.
421 Cue sheet file commands CATALOG and ISRC may be overridden by
422 option mcn= and by input_sheet_v07t= purpose specifiers "UPC /
423 EAN" and "ISRC". This does not affect their appearance in CD-
424 TEXT, but only on Q sub-channel.
425 The track numbers may be overridden by option cd_start_tno=.
426 -dao Alias for option -sao. Write CD in Session at Once mode or DVD-
428 R[W] in Disc-at-once mode.
429 -data Subsequent tracks are data tracks. This option is default and
431 only needed to mark the end of the range of an eventual option
432 -audio or -xa1.
433 Options -mode2, -xa, and -xa2 get mapped to -data, not using the
434 desired CD sector formats and thus not taking advantage of even‐
435 tual higher payload.
436 -xa1 Subsequent tracks are data tracks with input suitable for CD-ROM
438 XA mode 2 form 1. This differs from -data input by 8 additional
439 header bytes per block. cdrskin will not write CD-ROM XA but
440 rather strip the header bytes and write as -data tracks.
441 dev=target
443 Set the address of the drive to use. Valid are at least the ad‐
444 dresses listed with options --devices or --device_links, X,Y,Z
445 addresses listed with option -scanbus, ATA:X,Y,Z addresses
446 listed with options dev=ATA -scanbus, and volatile libburn drive
447 numbers (numbering starts at "0"). Other device file addresses
448 which lead to the same drive might work too.
449 If no dev= is given, volatile address "dev=0" is assumed. That
450 is the first drive found being available. Better avoid this am‐
451 biguity on systems with more than one drive.
452 The special target "help" lists hints about available addressing
453 formats. Be aware that deprecated option --old_pseudo_scsi_adr
454 may change the meaning of Bus,Target,Lun addresses.
455 driveropts=opt
457 Set "driveropts=noburnfree" to disable the drive's eventual pro‐
458 tection mechanism against temporary lack of source data (i.e.
459 buffer underrun). A drive that announces no such capabilities
460 will not get them enabled anyway, even if attempted explicitly
461 via "driveropts=burnfree".
462 -dummy Try to perform the drive operations without actually affecting
464 the inserted media. There is no warranty that this will work
465 with a particular combination of drive, media, and write mode.
466 Blanking is prevented reliably, though. To avoid inadverted
467 real burning, -dummy refuses burn runs on anything but CD-R[W],
468 DVD-R[W], or emulated stdio-drives.
469 -eject Eject the disc after work is done.
471 -force Assume that the user knows better in situations when cdrskin or
473 libburn are refusing because of concerns about drive or media
474 state.
475 Caution: Use option -force only when in urgent need.
476 This option enables the attempt to blank media which are classi‐
477 fied as unknown or unsuitable, and the attempt to use write
478 modes of which libburn believes they are not supported by the
479 drive.
480 Another application is to enforce blanking or re-formatting of
481 media which appear to be in the desired blank or format state
482 already.
483 This option enables a burn run with option -dummy even if lib‐
484 burn believes that drive and media will not simulate the write
485 mode but will write for real.
486 It enables a burn run where cdrskin expects to exceed the avail‐
487 able media capacity. This is known as "overburn" and might suc‐
488 ceed on CD media with write type SAO. Too much overburning
489 might be harmful to the medium and might make the drive unusable
490 (hopefully only until it gets powered off and on). The man page
491 of cdrecord mentions 88 seconds = 6600 blocks as halfways safe
492 amount over the official medium capacity. The assessment of
493 track sizes by libburn will be wrong if the written size reaches
494 or exceeds 90 minutes = 405000 sectors. The overall medium size
495 assessment by the Linux kernel is supposed to yield roughly the
496 written size, but you should test this yourself with every over‐
497 burnt medium.
498 First consider to use a medium with more capacity rather than
499 trying to overburn a CD.
500 -format
502 Same as blank=format_overwrite_full -force but restricted to
503 DVD+RW.
504 fs=size
506 Set the fifo size to the given value. The value may have ap‐
507 pended letters which multiply the preceding number:
508 "k" or "K" = 1024 , "m" or "M" = 1024k , "g" or "G" = 1024m ,
509 "s" or "S" = 2048
510 Set size to 0 in order to disable the fifo (default is "4m").
511 The fifo buffers an eventual temporary surplus of track source
512 data in order to provide the drive with a steady stream during
513 times of temporary lack of track source supply. The larger the
514 fifo, the longer periods of poor source supply can be compen‐
515 sated. But a large fifo needs substantial time to fill up if
516 not curbed via option fifo_start_at=size.
517 gracetime=seconds
519 Set the grace time before starting to write. (Default is 0)
520 -immed Equivalent to:
522 modesty_on_drive=1:min_percent=75:max_percent=95
523 The name of this cdrecord option stems from the "Immed" bit
524 which can make some long running drive commands asynchronous and
525 thus eases the load on some wiring hardware types. Regardless of
526 option -immed, cdrskin uses asynchronous commands where possible
527 and appropriate. To really disable asynchronous command execu‐
528 tion, use option use_immed_bit=off .
529 index=list
531 Set a comma separated list of index start address numbers for
532 the next track. This applies to CD SAO sessions only.
533 The addresses count sectors from the start of the next track.
534 The first number is for index 1 and must be 0. The following
535 numbers have to be larger than their respective predecessors. Up
536 to 99 numbers are allowed.
537 Sector numbers are computed from Min:Sec:Frame addresses by
538 Sector = ((Min*60)+Sec)*75+Frame
539 E.g.: "0,7512,20408" sets index 2 to 01:40:12 and index 3 to
540 04:32:08.
541 -inq Print the identification of the drive and then exit.
543 -isosize
545 The next track following this option will try to obtain its
546 source size from the header information out of the first few
547 blocks of the source data. If these blocks indicate an ISO-9660
548 filesystem then its declared size will be used under the assump‐
549 tion that it is a single session filesystem.
550 If not, then the burn run will be aborted.
551 The range of -isosize is exactly one track. Further tracks may
552 be preceded by further -isosize options, though. At least 15
553 blocks of padding will be added to each -isosize track. But be
554 advised to rather use padsize=300k.
555 This option can be performed on track sources which are regular
556 files or block devices. For the first track of the session it
557 can be performed on any type of source if there is a fifo of at
558 least 64 kiB. See option fs= .
559 isrc=text
561 Set the ISRC for the next track source to the given text, which
562 must be exactly 13 characters long. It must comply to the format
563 CCOOOYYSSSSS.
564 CC is the country code. OOO is the owner code. Both may consist
565 of capital letters A to Z and of decimal digits 0 to 9. YY de‐
566 picts the year (00 to 99). SSSSS is the serial number (00000 to
567 99999).
568 This option does not affect CD-TEXT but only the Q sub-channel.
569 -load Load the media and exit. Exit value is 0 if any kind of media
571 was found, non zero else. Note: Option -eject will unload the
572 media even if -load is given.
573 -lock Like option -load but leave the drive's eject button disabled if
575 there is any media found and not option -eject is given.
576 Use program "eject" or cdrskin -eject to get the tray out of the
577 drive. Runs of programs like cdrecord, growisofs, wodim,
578 cdrskin will not be hampered and normally enable the drive's
579 eject button when they are done.
580 mcn=text
582 Set the CD Media Catalog Number to text, which must be exactly
583 13 characters long and should consist of decimal digits.
584 This option does not affect CD-TEXT but only the Q sub-channel.
585 minbuf=percentage
587 Equivalent to:
588 modesty_on_drive=1:min_percent=<percentage>:max_percent=95
589 Percentage is permissible between 25 and 95.
590 -minfo Print information about the loaded media. This includes media
592 type, writability state, and a quite readable table of content.
593 msifile=path
595 Run option -msinfo and copy the result line into the file given
596 by path. Unlike -msinfo this option does not redirect all nor‐
597 mal output away from standard output. But it may be combined
598 with -msinfo to achieve this.
599 Note: msifile=path is actually an option of wodim and not of
600 cdrecord.
601 -msinfo
603 Retrieve multi-session info for preparing a follow-up session by
604 option -C of programs mkisofs, genisoimage, or xorriso -as mk‐
605 isofs. Print result to standard output. This option redirects
606 to stderr all message output except the one of option --tell_me‐
607 dia_space and its own result string, which consists of two num‐
608 bers. The result string shall be used as argument of option -C
609 with said programs. It gives the start address of the most re‐
610 cent session and the predicted start address of the next session
611 to be appended. The string is empty if the most recent session
612 was not written with option -multi.
613 To have a chance for working on overwriteable media, this option
614 has to be accompanied by option --grow_overwriteable_iso.
615 -multi This option keeps CD, unformatted DVD-R[W], DVD+R, or BD-R ap‐
617 pendable after the current session has been written. Without it
618 the disc gets closed and may not be written any more - unless
619 it is a -RW and gets blanked which causes loss of its content.
620 The following sessions can only be written in -tao mode. -multi
621 is prohibited with DVD-R[W] DAO write mode and on DVD-R DL me‐
622 dia. Option --prodvd_cli_compatible eventually makes -multi
623 tolerable but cannot make it work.
624 In order to have all filesystem content accessible, the eventual
625 ISO-9660 filesystem of a follow-up session needs to be prepared
626 in a special way by the filesystem formatter program. mkisofs
627 and genisoimage expect particular info about the situation which
628 can be retrieved by cdrskin option -msinfo.
629 To retrieve an archive file which was written as follow-up ses‐
630 sion, you may use option -toc to learn about the "lba" of the
631 desired track number. This lba is the address of the 2048 byte
632 block where the archive begins.
633 With overwriteable DVD or BD media, -multi cannot mark the end
634 of the session. So when adding a new session this end has to be
635 determined from the payload. Currently only ISO-9660 filesys‐
636 tems can be used that way. See option --grow_overwriteable_iso
637 for lifting the ban on -multi.
638 Note: -multi might make DVD media unreadable in some DVD-ROM
639 drives.
640 -nocopy
642 Create subsequent tracks with permission for a single level of
643 copies. I.e. those copies would then be marked by -scms as of‐
644 fering no permission for further copies.
645 -nopad Do not add trailing zeros to the data stream. Nevertheless,
647 since there seems to be no use for audio tracks with incomplete
648 last sector, this option applies only to data tracks. There it
649 is default.
650 -nopreemp
652 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered without
653 pre-emphasis.
654 -pad Add 30 kiB of trailing zeros to each data track. (This is not
656 sufficient to avoid problems with various CD-ROM read drivers.)
657 padsize=size
659 Add the given amount of trailing zeros to the next data track.
660 This option gets reset to padsize=0 after that next track is
661 written. It may be set again before the next track argument.
662 About size specifiers, see option fs=.
663 -preemp
665 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with pre-
666 emphasis.
667 -sao Write CD in Session At Once mode or sequential DVD-R[W] in Disc-
669 at-once (DAO) mode.
670 With CD this mode is able to put several audio tracks on media
671 without producing audible gaps between them.
672 With DVD-R[W] this mode can only write a single track. No
673 -multi is allowed with DVD-R[W] -sao.
674 -sao is permissible with overwriteable DVD, or DVD+R[/DL], or BD
675 but actually only imposes restrictions without providing known
676 advantages.
677 -sao can only be used for tracks of fixely predicted size. This
678 implies that track arguments which depict stdin or named pipes
679 need to be preceded by option tsize= or by option
680 tao_to_sao_tsize=.
681 -sao cannot be used on appendable media.
682 -scanbus
684 Scan the system for drives. On Linux the drives at /dev/s* and
685 at /dev/hd* are to be scanned by two separate runs. One without
686 dev= for /dev/s* and one with dev=ATA for /dev/hd* devices. (Op‐
687 tion --drives lists all available drives in a single run.)
688 Drives which are busy or which offer no rw-permission to the
689 user of cdrskin are not listed. Busy drives get reported in form
690 of warning messages.
691 The useful fields in a result line are:
692 Bus,Target,Lun Number) 'Vendor' 'Mode' 'Revision'
693 -scms Create subsequent tracks without permission for being copied.
695 This is usually done for tracks which are copies of tracks that
696 were marked with -nocopy (but not yet with -scms). So copies of
697 copies are prohibited.
698 This option gets reset by option -copy. Thus the combination
699 -copy -nocopy means -nocopy surely without -scms.
700 speed=number
702 Set speed of drive. With data CD, 1x speed corresponds to a
703 throughput of 153,600 bytes/second. With DVD, 1x = 1,385,000
704 bytes/second. With BD 1x = 4,495,625 bytes/second. It is not
705 an error to set a speed higher than is suitable for drive and
706 media. One should stay within a realistic speed range, though.
707 Special speed settings are:
708 0 = minimal speed , -1 = maximal speed (default), text "any" =
709 like -1.
710 -swab Announce that the raw audio data source of subsequent tracks is
712 byte swapped versus the expectations of cdrecord. This option is
713 suitable for audio where the least significant byte of a 16 bit
714 word is first (little-endian, Intel). Most raw audio data on PC
715 systems are available in this byte order. Less guesswork is
716 needed if track sources are in format MS-WAVE in a file with
717 suffix ".wav".
718 -tao Write CD in Track At Once (TAO) mode, sequential DVD-R[W] in In‐
720 cremental Streaming mode, or DVD+R[/DL] without traditional -sao
721 restrictions. This mode also applies pro-forma to overwriteable
722 media
723 Mode -tao can be used with track sources of unpredictable size,
724 like standard input or named pipes. It is also the only mode
725 that can be used for writing to appendable media which already
726 hold data. With unformatted DVD-R[W] it is the only mode which
727 can keep media appendable by option -multi.
728 Mode -tao is not usable for minimally blanked DVD-RW and for
729 DVD-R DL.
730 -text Enable writing of CD-TEXT attributes read by option cuefile=.
732 Without option -text, cue sheet file command CDTEXTFILE will be
733 ignored and no CD-TEXT attributes will be read from the file.
734 Nevertheless, CATALOG and ISRC will have the same effect as op‐
735 tions mcn= and isrc=.
736 textfile=path
738 Read CD-TEXT packs from the file depicted by path and put them
739 into the Lead-in of the emerging session. This session has to be
740 done by Session At Once (SAO) mode and may only contain audio
741 tracks.
742 path must lead to a regular file, which consists of an optional
743 header of four bytes and one or more text packs of 18 bytes
744 each. Suitable would be the file 'cdtext.dat' which gets ex‐
745 tracted from CD media by options -vv -toc and shown in human
746 readable form by -vvv -toc.
747 The header, if present, must tell the file size minus 2, encoded
748 as big-endian 16 bit word. The other two bytes must be 0.
749 If there is no 4-byte header, then a trailing 0-byte, as of Sony
750 specification, is tolerated and ignored.
751 A text pack consists of a pack type byte, a track number byte, a
752 counter byte, a Block Number and Character Indicator byte, 12
753 text characters or data bytes, two optional CRC bytes. For de‐
754 tails see libburn documentation file doc/cdtext.txt.
755 By default, the input file is checked for correct CRC bytes. If
756 all CRC bytes are 0, then the correct values get silently in‐
757 serted. If there are non-zero CRC bytes, then a mismatch causes
758 the abort of the burn run. This check can be disabled by option
759 -force.
760 Note that this option overrides option input_sheet_v07t= .
761 -toc Print the table of content (TOC) which describes the tracks
763 recorded on disc. The output contains all info from option
764 -atip plus lines which begin with "track:", the track number,
765 the word "lba:" and a number which gives the start address of
766 the track. Addresses are counted in CD sectors which with SAO or
767 TAO data tracks hold 2048 bytes each.
768 If verbosity is set to level 2 (-v -v) then the CD-TEXT packs
769 from the lead-in of an audio CD get extracted and written into
770 file 'cdtext.dat', if that file does not yet exist. Prepended is
771 a 4 byte header, followed by one or more packs of 18 bytes each.
772 Verbosity level 3 causes the CD-TEXT packs to be printed as hex
773 numbers to standard output. Bytes 4 to 15 of certain pack types
774 are printed as ASCII characters if they have values in the range
775 of 32 to 126.
776 See option textfile= for more information about the text pack
777 format.
778 Example. Retrieve an afio archive from track number 2:
780 tracknumber=2
781 lba=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/cdrom -toc 2>&1 | \
782 grep '^track:[ ]*[ 0-9][0-9]' | \
783 tail +"$tracknumber" | head -1 | \
784 awk '{ print $4}' )
785 dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 skip="$lba" | \
786 afio -t - | less
787 tsize=size
789 Announces the exact size of the next track source. This is nec‐
790 essary with any write mode other than -tao if the track source
791 is not a regular disk file, but e.g. "-" (standard input) or a
792 named pipe. About size specifiers, see option fs=.
793 If the track source does not deliver the predicted amount of
794 bytes, the remainder of the track is padded with zeros. This is
795 not considered an error. If on the other hand the track source
796 delivers more than the announced bytes then the track on media
797 gets truncated to the predicted size and cdrskin exits with non-
798 zero value.
799 -v Increment verbosity level by one. Startlevel is 0 with only few
801 messages. Level 1 prints progress report with long running op‐
802 erations and also causes some extra lines to be put out with
803 info retrieval options. Level 2 additionally reports about op‐
804 tion settings derived from arguments or startup files. Level 3
805 is for debugging and useful mainly in conjunction with somebody
806 who had a look into the program sourcecode.
807 -V Enable logging of SCSI commands to stderr. This is helpful for
809 expert examination of the interaction between libburn and the
810 drive. The commands are specified in SCSI-3 standards SPC, SBC,
811 MMC.
812 -waiti Wait until input data is available at stdin or EOF occurs at
814 stdin. Only then begin to access any drives.
815 One should use this if cdrskin is working at the end of a pipe
816 where the feeder process reads from the drive before it starts
817 writing its output into cdrskin. Example:
818 mkisofs ... -C 0,12800 -M /dev/sr0 | \
819 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 ... -waiti -
820 This option works even if stdin is not among the track sources.
821 If no process is piping in, then the Enter key of your terminal
822 will act as trigger for cdrskin. Note that this input line will
823 not be consumed by cdrskin if stdin is not among the track
824 sources. It will end up as shell command, usually.
825 Alphabetical list of options which are genuine to cdrskin and intended
827 for normal use:
828 --adjust_speed_to_drive
830 Curb explicitly given speed= values to the maximum which is an‐
831 nounced by the drive for the loaded media. By default, such an
832 adjustment is only made with pseudo-speeds 0 and -1 whereas
833 speed settings > 0 are sent unchanged to the drive which will
834 then choose an appropriate speed on its own.
835 --allow_emulated_drives
837 Enable drive addresses of the form dev=stdio:<path>. See above,
838 paragraph "Drive preparation and addressing".
839 --allow_setuid
841 Disable the loud warning about insecure discrepance between lo‐
842 gin user and effective user which indicates application of chmod
843 u+s to the program binary. One should not do this chmod u+s ,
844 but it is an old cdrecord tradition.
845 --any_track
847 Allow source_addresses to begin with "-" (plus further charac‐
848 ters) or to contain a "=" character. By default such arguments
849 are seen as misspelled options. It is nevertheless not possible
850 to use one of the options listed with --list_ignored_options.
851 assert_write_lba=block_number|byte_address
853 Abort if the write address given with this option is not the
854 same as predicted immediately before the write session starts.
855 This option can ensure that a start address which was presumed
856 by a formatter like mkisofs -C is really used by the drive for
857 writing. assert_write_lba=0 effectively demands blank media and
858 excludes appendables.
859 Block numbering is peculiar: If the last character of the option
860 string is a letter [a-zA-Z] then the usual unit scaling by "s",
861 "k", "m", etc. applies and the result is divided by 2048. Else
862 the number value of the string is taken as plain block number
863 with block size 2048 byte. (E.g ...=1000 or ...=1000s means
864 block 1000, ...=1m means block 512, ...=4096b means block number
865 2)
866 cd_start_tno=number
868 Set the number which shall be written as CD track number with
869 the first track of the session. The following tracks will then
870 get written with consecutive CD track numbers. The resulting
871 number of the last track must not exceed 99. The lowest possible
872 start number is 1, which is also the default.
873 This setting applies only to CD SAO writing. It overrides the
874 track number settings caused by options cuefile= or in‐
875 put_sheet_v07t=.
876 cdtext_to_textfile=path
878 Extract the CD-TEXT packs from the lead-in of an audio CD and
879 write them to the file with the given path. If CD-TEXT can be
880 retrieved, then this file will be suitable for option textfile=.
881 Not all drives can read CD-TEXT and not all audio CDs bear CD-
882 TEXT. It is not considered an error if no CD-TEXT is available.
883 cdtext_to_v07t=path
885 Extract the CD-TEXT packs from the lead-in of an audio CD and
886 write them as human readable Sony Input Sheet Version 0.7T to
887 the file with the given path. If CD-TEXT can be retrieved, then
888 this file will be suitable for option input_sheet_v07t=.
889 If the given path is "-", then the result is printed to standard
890 output.
891 Not all drives can read CD-TEXT and not all audio CDs bear CD-
892 TEXT. It is not considered an error if no CD-TEXT is available.
893 --demand_a_drive
895 Exit with a nonzero value if no drive can be found during a bus
896 scan.
897 --devices
899 List the device file addresses of all accessible CD drives. In
900 order to get listed, a drive has to offer rw-permission for the
901 cdrskin user and it may not be busy. The superuser should be
902 able to see all idle drives listed and busy drives reported as
903 "SORRY" messages.
904 Each available drive gets listed by a line containing the fol‐
905 lowing fields:
906 Number dev='Devicefile' rw-Permissions : 'Vendor' 'Model'
907 Number and Devicefile can both be used with option dev=, but
908 number is volatile (numbering changes if drives become busy).
909 --device_links
911 Like --devices, but presenting the drives with addresses of sym‐
912 bolic links which point to the actual device files.
913 Modern GNU/Linux systems may shuffle drive addresses from boot
914 to boot. The udev daemon is supposed to create links which al‐
915 ways point to the same drive, regardless of its system address.
916 Option --device_links shows the addresses of such links if they
917 begin by "/dev/dvd" or "/dev/cd". Precedence is: "dvdrw",
918 "cdrw", "dvd", "cdrom", "cd".
919 direct_write_amount=size
921 Do not write a session with tracks but rather make an appropri‐
922 ate number of direct write operations with no preparations.
923 Flushing the drive buffer will be the only finalization. It is
924 advised to eject the media afterwards because the write opera‐
925 tions circumvent the usual system i/o with its caches and buf‐
926 fers. By ejecting, those invalid memory copies get surely dis‐
927 carded.
928 Only few media can be written this way: DVD-RAM, BD-RE, RVD+RW
929 and overwriteable DVD-RW. Writing is restricted to the already
930 formatted area of the media.
931 Writing starts at byte 0 of the media or at the address given by
932 option write_start_address= . Only the first track source is
933 used as input for the write operations. The fifo (fs=) is dis‐
934 abled.
935 Parameter size controls the amount of data to be written. Size 0
936 means that the track source shall be used up until EOF. In this
937 case, the last write transaction gets padded up to the necessary
938 size by zeros. Size -1 revokes direct writing and switches back
939 to normal session oriented writing.
940 Both, write_start_address and direct_write_amount size must be
941 aligned to a media dependent transaction size. With DVD-RAM, BD-
942 RE, DVD+RW this is 2k, with overwriteable DVD-RW it is 32k.
943 dvd_obs=default|32k|64k
945 Set the number of bytes to be transmitted with each write opera‐
946 tion to DVD or BD media. With most write types, tracks get
947 padded up to the next multiple of this write size (see option
948 --obs_pad). A number of 64 KB may improve throughput with sys‐
949 tems which show latency problems. The default depends on media
950 type, option stream_recording=, and on compile time options.
951 extract_audio_to=directory_path
953 Extract tracks from an audio CD as separate WAVE audio files
954 into the given directory. This directory has to already exist,
955 but none of the track files may exist. This option will rather
956 fail than overwrite an existing file.
957 By default all tracks of the CD are extracted to files with
958 names NN.wav, where NN is the track number from 01 to at most
959 99.
960 extract_basename=name
962 Set a filename prefix which shall be used by extract_audio_to=
963 instead of the empty default name prefix.
964 --extract_dap
966 Enable Digital Audio Play flaw obscuring mechanisms like audio
967 data mute and interpolate.
968 extract_tracks=number[,number[,...]]
970 Set a list of track numbers to define which tracks shall be ex‐
971 tracted by extract_audio_to=. If no extract_tracks= is given,
972 then all audio tracks get extracted. It is permissible to have
973 more than one extract_tracks= option in order to split a long
974 list into shorter pieces.
975 The lowest permissible track number is 1, the highest is 99.
976 fallback_program=command
978 Set a command name to be executed if cdrskin encounters a known
979 cdrecord option which it does not yet support. If a non-empty
980 command is given with fallback_program=, and if no essential op‐
981 tions are given which are specific to cdrskin, then cdrskin will
982 delegate the job to said command.
983 The natural commands to be given are cdrecord or wodim but one
984 may well submit the address of an own program.
985 The fallback program will get all arguments of cdrskin which do
986 not match the shell patterns --?* or *_*=* . This eventually
987 suppresses path names of track sources which happen to match
988 those patterns. The options from the startup files are not
989 handed to the fallback program.
990 Fallback program execution is disabled if cdrskin is run setuid
991 and not option --allow_setuid is given. In general, the drive's
992 device files and the involved programs should be set up so that
993 each program runs under its advised conditions. (E.g. cdrskin as
994 member of group floppy, cdrecord setuid root.)
995 Two alias names for cdrskin are predefined with default fallback
996 programs:
997 unicord implies fallback_program=cdrecord
998 codim implies fallback_program=wodim
999 --four_channel
1001 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with four
1002 channels.
1003 fifo_start_at=size
1005 Do not wait for full fifo but start burning as soon as the given
1006 number of bytes is read. This option may be helpful to bring the
1007 average throughput near to the maximum throughput of a drive. A
1008 large fs= and a small fifo_start_at= combine a quick burn start
1009 and a large savings buffer to compensate for temporary lack of
1010 source data. At the beginning of burning, the software protec‐
1011 tion against buffer underrun is as weak as the size of
1012 fifo_start_at= . So it is best if the drive offers hardware pro‐
1013 tection which is enabled automatically if not driveropts=noburn‐
1014 free is given.
1015 --grow_overwriteable_iso
1017 Enable emulation of multi-session writing on overwriteable media
1018 which contain an ISO-9660 filesystem. This emulation is learned
1019 from growisofs -M but adapted to the usage model of
1020 cdrskin -msinfo
1021 mkisofs -C -M | cdrskin -waiti [-multi] -
1022 --grow_overwriteable_iso does not hamper the use of true multi-
1023 session media. I.e. it is possible to use the same cdrskin op‐
1024 tions with both kinds of media and to achieve similar results if
1025 ISO-9660 filesystem images are to be written. This option im‐
1026 plies option -isosize and therefore demands that the track
1027 source is a ISO-9660 filesystem image.
1028 With overwriteable media and no option blank=fast|all present it
1029 expands an eventual ISO-9660 filesystem on media. It is assumed
1030 that this image's inner size description points to the end of
1031 the valuable data. Overwriteable media with a recognizable
1032 ISO-9660 size will be regarded as appendable rather than as
1033 blank. I.e. options -msinfo and -toc will work. -toc will al‐
1034 ways show a single session with its size increasing with every
1035 added mkisofs image.
1036 If not overridden by option write_start_address=, the track with
1037 the new image will be placed behind the end of the old one. One
1038 may use option assert_write_lba= to make sure that media state
1039 and mkisofs job do match.
1040 --grow_overwriteable_iso causes option blank=fast|all to invali‐
1041 date an eventual ISO-9660 image by altering the first few bytes
1042 of block 16 on overwriteable media. Option -multi is tolerated
1043 in order not to hamper true multi-session media.
1044 An equivalent of growisofs -Z for overwriteable media is:
1045 mkisofs | cdrskin --grow_overwriteable_iso blank=fast [-multi] -
1046 With multi-session DVD, blank=fast will act like dvd+rw-format
1047 -blank=full .
1048 growisofs -dvd-compat is roughly equivalent to cdrskin without
1049 option -multi.
1050 input_sheet_v07t=path
1052 Read CD-TEXT definitions from a Sony Input Sheet version 0.7T.
1053 Up to eight or seven such sheets can be read by multiple in‐
1054 put_sheet_v07t= options. Each will define one CD-TEXT language
1055 block.
1056 The first line of a sheet file decides whether more than one
1057 sheet may be defined by the file. If it is
1058 Input Sheet Version = 0.7T
1059 then each further line with that text switches to the next sheet
1060 for the next block. If it is not, then all definitions apply to
1061 a single block.
1062 The information in such a sheet is given by text lines of the
1063 following form:
1064 purpose specifier [whitespace] = [whitespace] content text
1065 [whitespace] is zero or more ASCII 32 (space) or ASCII 9 (tab)
1066 characters. The purpose specifier tells the meaning of the con‐
1067 tent text. Empty content text does not cause a CD-TEXT attri‐
1068 bute to be attached.
1069 The following purpose specifiers apply to the session as a
1070 whole:
1071 Purpose specifier | Content example
1072 -------------------------------------------------------------
1073 Text Code = 8859
1074 Language Code = English
1075 Album Title = Joyful Nights
1076 Artist Name = United Cat Orchestra
1077 Songwriter = Various Songwriters
1078 Composer = Various Composers
1079 Arranger = Tom Cat
1080 Album Message = For all our fans
1081 Catalog Number = 1234567890
1082 Genre Code = Classical
1083 Genre Information = Feline classic music
1084 Closed Information = This is not to be shown by CD players
1085 UPC / EAN = 1234567890123
1086 Text Data Copy Protection = OFF
1087 First Track Number = 1
1088 Last Track Number = 3
1089 The following purpose specifiers apply to particular tracks:
1090 Purpose specifier | Content example
1091 -------------------------------------------------------------
1092 Track 01 Title = Song of Joy
1093 Track 01 Artist = Felix and The Purrs
1094 Track 01 Songwriter = Friedrich Schiller
1095 Track 01 Composer = Ludwig van Beethoven
1096 Track 01 Arranger = Tom Cat
1097 Track 01 Message = Fritz and Louie once were punks
1098 ISRC 01 = XYCRR1101234
1099 Track numbers are decimal despite the leading 0. There should be
1100 as many track definitions as there are track source files given.
1101 See libburn's doc/cdtext.txt for a detailed definition of 0.7T
1102 and the possible values for Text Code, Language Code, Genre
1103 Code, Text Data Copy Protection.
1104 The Q sub-channel settings by "UPC / EAN" and "ISRC" may be
1105 overridden by options mcn= and isrc=. This will not affect
1106 their appearance as CD-TEXT. They may override cuefile= com‐
1107 mands CATALOG and ISRC in the same way.
1108 If options -text cuefile= are given and if the cue sheet file
1109 defines CD-TEXT, then only seven input_sheet_v07t= options may
1110 be given. They will then be used as CD-TEXT language blocks 1 to
1111 7.
1112 This option will get into effect only if no option textfile= is
1113 given. The write mode must be SAO on CD. All tracks must be
1114 -audio tracks.
1115 The track numbers may be overridden by option cd_start_tno=.
1116 --list_formats
1118 List the available format descriptors as reported by the drive
1119 for the loaded media. Each descriptor line begins with "Format
1120 idx" and the descriptor's list index, followed by a ":", the
1121 format type, the number of payload blocks and that same number
1122 converted to MiB.
1123 The meaning of the format types is defined by the MMC standard
1124 with command FORMAT UNIT. A user will more be interested in the
1125 sizes than in the types.
1126 --list_ignored_options
1128 List all ignored cdrecord options. The "-" options cannot be
1129 used as addresses of track sources. No track source address may
1130 begin with a text equal to an option which ends by "=". The list
1131 is ended by an empty line.
1132 --list_speeds
1134 Put out a list of speed values as reported by the output drive
1135 with the loaded medium. This does not necessarily mean that the
1136 medium is writable or that these speeds are actually achievable.
1137 Especially the lists reported with empty drive or with ROM media
1138 obviously advertise speeds for other media.
1139 It is not mandatory to use speed values out of the listed range.
1140 The drive is supposed to choose a safe speed that is as near to
1141 the desired speed as possible.
1142 At the end of the list, "Write speed L" and "Write speed H" are
1143 the best guesses for lower and upper speed limit. "Write speed
1144 l" and "Write speed h" may appear only with CD and eventually
1145 override the list of other speed offers.
1146 Only if the drive reports contradicting speed information there
1147 will appear "Write speed 0" or "Write speed-1", which tell the
1148 outcome of speed selection by options speed=0 or speed=-1, if it
1149 deviates from "Write speed L" or "Write speed H", respectively.
1150 --long_toc
1152 Like option -toc but marking each session start by a line
1153 "first: X last: Y" and each session end by "track:lout ...".
1154 --no_load
1156 When aquiring the optical drive, do not try to load its tray.
1157 This yields the same behavior for desktop drives with tray
1158 loader as is shown by laptop drives which usually lack a motor‐
1159 ized tray loader.
1160 --no_rc
1162 Only if used as first command line argument this option prevents
1163 reading and interpretation of eventual startup files. See sec‐
1164 tion FILES below.
1165 --pacifier_with_newline
1167 Adds a newline character to each pacifier line that would else‐
1168 wise be overwritten by the next pacifier line. Such lines are
1169 emitted during a run of writing, formatting, or blanking if op‐
1170 tion -v is given.
1171 --prodvd_cli_compatible
1173 Activates behavior modifications with some DVD situations which
1174 bring cdrskin nearer to the behavior of cdrecord-ProDVD:
1175 Option -multi with unsuitable media is not an error but simply
1176 has no effect.
1177 Options blank=fast and blank=all deformat overwriteable DVD-RW
1178 media.
1179 Option blank=fast does indeed minmal blanking with DVD-RW. This
1180 may yield media which can only do DAO but not Incremental
1181 Streaming.
1182 --single_track
1184 Accept only the last argument of the command line as track
1185 source address.
1186 stdio_sync=on|off|number
1188 Set the number of bytes after which to force output to drives
1189 with prefix "stdio:". This forcing keeps the memory from being
1190 clogged with lots of pending data for slow devices. Default "on"
1191 is the same as "16m". Forced output can be disabled by "off".
1192 stream_recording=on|off|number
1194 By setting "on" request that compliance to the desired speed
1195 setting is preferred over management of write errors. With DVD-
1196 RAM and BD this can bring effective write speed near to the nom‐
1197 inal write speed of the media. But it will also disable the au‐
1198 tomatic use of replacement blocks if write errors occur. It
1199 might as well be disliked or ignored by the drive.
1200 If a number is given, then error management stays enabled for
1201 all byte addresses below that number. Any number below 16s is
1202 the same as "off".
1203 tao_to_sao_tsize=size
1205 Set an exact fixed size for the next track to be in effect only
1206 if the track source cannot deliver a size prediction and no
1207 tsize= was specified and an exact track size prediction is de‐
1208 manded by the write mode.
1209 This was the fallback from bad old times when cdrskin was unable
1210 to burn in mode -tao . It came back with minimally blanked DVD-
1211 RW, which cannot do Incremental Streaming (-tao), and with ex‐
1212 plicitly selected write mode -sao for best DVD-ROM compatibil‐
1213 ity.
1214 If the track source delivers less bytes than announced then the
1215 missing ones will be filled with zeros.
1216 --tell_media_space
1218 Prepare a recording session, do not perform it but rather in‐
1219 quire the maximum number of 2048 byte data blocks which may be
1220 written in the current state of media with the prepared setup.
1221 So this option disables recording of data. It does not disable
1222 blanking, though, and will measure space afterwards.
1223 It is not mandatory to give track sources but their nature may
1224 influence the available capacity. So for most realistic results
1225 one may set up the full burn session and add --tell_media_space.
1226 But if one has to expect a cdrskin version prior to 0.3.3 no
1227 track source should be given in order not to start an involun‐
1228 tary burn session. In this case set at least -sao or -tao ex‐
1229 plicitly.
1230 The result gets printed to standard output. It is 0 or empty if
1231 no writing is possible with the given options. This option
1232 redirects to stderr all message output except its own result
1233 string and eventual output of -msinfo.
1234 textfile_to_v07t=path
1236 Read a CD-TEXT pack file (e.g. cdtext.dat from a run with -v -v
1237 -toc) and print its content in the human readable format that is
1238 described with option input_sheet_v07t=.
1239 The program run ends immediately thereafter. No drive scan will
1240 happen and no drive will be acquired.
1241 To avoid the cdrskin start message in the output, run:
1242 cdrskin textfile_to_v07t=cdtext.dat | grep -v '^cdrskin'
1243 --two_channel
1245 Indicate for subsequent tracks that they were mastered with two
1246 channels.
1247 write_start_address=byte_offset
1249 Set the address on media where to start writing the track. With
1250 DVD+RW, DVD-RAM or BD-RE byte_offset must be aligned to 2 kiB
1251 blocks, but better is 32 kiB. With DVD-RW 32 kiB alignment is
1252 mandatory.
1253 Other media are not suitable for this option yet.
1254 modesty_on_drive=<mode>[:parameter=<value>[:parameter=<value>...]]
1256 Mode 1 keeps the program from trying to write to the burner
1257 drive while its buffer is in danger to be filled by more than
1258 parameter "max_percent". If this filling is exceeded then the
1259 program will wait until the filling is at most the value of pa‐
1260 rameter "min_percent".
1261 Percentages are permissible in the range of 25 to 100.
1262 This can ease the load on operating system and drive controller
1263 and thus help with achieving better input bandwidth if disk and
1264 burner are not on independent controllers (like hda and hdb).
1265 Unsufficient input bandwidth is indicated by output "(fifo
1266 xy%)" of option -v if xy is lower than 90 for some time. mod‐
1267 esty_on_drive= might hamper output bandwidth and cause buffer
1268 underruns.
1269 A new use case is to work around the poor simultaneous perfor‐
1270 mance of multiple burn runs on Linux kernel 3.16 and alike. Here
1271 it is not about giving the hard disk enough time to fill the
1272 fifo, but about keeping ioctl(SG_IO) from blocking for a longer
1273 time and thus blocking all other burn runs.
1274 To have max_percent larger than the burner's best actual buffer
1275 fill has the same effect as min_percent==max_percent. Some burn‐
1276 ers do not use their full buffer with all media types. Watch
1277 output "[buf xy%]" of option -v to get an impression of the ac‐
1278 tual buffer usage. Some burners are not suitable because they
1279 report buffer fill with granularity too large in size or time,
1280 or because they go to full speed only when their buffer is full.
1281 If a write attempt is delayed, the program will wait for a num‐
1282 ber of microseconds which is given by parameter "min_usec" be‐
1283 fore inquiring the buffer again. If more retries occur, this
1284 waiting time between inquiries increases up to the value of pa‐
1285 rameter "max_usec".
1286 If the delay lasts longer than the number of seconds given by
1287 parameter "timeout_sec", then mode 1 is set 0 and normal burning
1288 goes on.
1289 Mode 0 disables this feature. Mode -1 keeps it unchanged. De‐
1290 fault is:
1291 0:min_percent=65:max_percent=95:timeout_sec=120:
1292 min_usec=10000:max_usec=100000
1293 The defaults of cdrskin are good for IDE problems. With concur‐
1294 rent Linux SG_IO problems on modern hardware, higher min_percent
1295 and lower usec might yield better buffer fills while still
1296 avoiding the problem:
1297 min_percent=90:max_percent=95:min_usec=5000:max_usec=25000
1298 Alphabetical list of options which are only intended for very special
1300 situations and not for normal use:
1301 --abort_handler
1303 Establish default signal handling not to leave a drive in busy
1304 state but rather to shut it down and to wait until it has ended
1305 the final operations. This option is only needed for revoking
1306 eventual --ignore_signals or --no_abort_handler.
1307 --allow_untested_media
1309 Enable the use of media profiles which have been implemented but
1310 not yet tested. Currently this option is without effect because
1311 no media types are under test reservation.
1312 (If you really test experimental media, then please report the
1313 outcome on libburn-hackers@pykix.org)
1314 --cdtext_dummy
1316 Prepare a burn run, report the effective array of CD-TEXT packs
1317 to stdout, and then end the program run without starting to burn
1318 the session. A blank CD-R or CD-RW has to be present in the
1319 drive, nevertheless.
1320 The output is formatted in lines which describe 18 bytes as
1321 2-digit hex numbers or as single printable characters. See lib‐
1322 burn document doc/cdtext.txt about the format of these records.
1323 --cdtext_verbose
1325 Like --cdtext_dummy but without preventing the burn run. Combin‐
1326 able with option -dummy to exercise a CD burn run with no per‐
1327 sistent impact on the medium.
1328 dev_translation=<sep><from><sep><to>
1330 Set drive address alias. This was necessary before cdrskin-0.2.4
1331 to manually translate cdrecord addresses into cdrskin addresses.
1332 <sep> is a single character which may not occur in the address
1333 string <from>. <from> is an address as expected to be given by
1334 the user via option dev=. <to> is the address to be used instead
1335 whenever <from> is given. More than one translation instruction
1336 can be given in one cdrskin run.
1337 E.g.: dev_translation=+ATA:1,0,0+/dev/sr1 dev_transla‐
1338 tion=+ATA:1,1,0+/dev/sr2
1339 --drive_abort_on_busy
1341 Linux specific: Abort process if a busy drive is encountered.
1342 --drive_blocking
1344 Linux specific: Try to wait for a busy drive to become free.
1345 This is not guaranteed to work with all drivers. Some need non‐
1346 blocking i/o.
1347 --drive_f_setlk
1349 Linux specific: Try to get exclusive lock on drive device file
1350 via fcntl(2).
1351 --drive_not_exclusive
1353 Linux specific: Combine --drive_not_f_setlk and
1354 --drive_not_o_excl.
1355 --drive_not_f_setlk
1357 Linux specific: Do not try to get exclusive lock on drive device
1358 file via fcntl(2).
1359 --drive_not_o_excl
1361 Linux specific: Do not ask the operating system to prevent open‐
1362 ing busy drives. Whether this leads to senseful behavior de‐
1363 pends on operating system and kernel.
1364 drive_scsi_dev_family=sr|scd|sg
1366 Linux specific: Select a SCSI device file family to be scanned
1367 for by options --devices, --device_links and -scanbus. Normally
1368 this is /dev/sgN on kernel versions < 2.6 and /dev/srN on ker‐
1369 nels >= 2.6 . This option explicitly overrides that default in
1370 order to meet other programs at a common device file for each
1371 drive. On kernel 2.4 families sr and scd will find no drives.
1372 Device file family /dev/hdX on kernel >= 2.6 is not affected by
1373 this setting.
1374 --drive_scsi_exclusive
1376 Linux specific: Try to exclusively reserve device files
1377 /dev/srN, /dev/scdM, /dev/sgK of drives. This would be helpful
1378 to protect against collisions with program growisofs. Regret‐
1379 tably on Linux kernel 2.4 with ide-scsi emulation this seems not
1380 to work. Whether it becomes helpful with new Linux systems has
1381 to be evaluated.
1382 --fifo_disable
1384 Disable fifo despite any fs=.
1385 --fifo_per_track
1387 Use a separate fifo for each track.
1388 --fill_up_media
1390 Expand the last track of the session to occupy all remaining
1391 free space on the media.
1392 This option overrides option -multi. It will not fill up media
1393 if option -sao is given with CD media.
1394 Caution: With multi-session media this option might increase
1395 readatibility on DVD-ROM drives but with some DVD recorders and
1396 media types it might also fail to produce readable media at all.
1397 "Your mileage may vary".
1398 You can expect the best possible read compatibility if you do
1399 not use -multi at all.
1400 grab_drive_and_wait=seconds
1402 Open the addressed drive, wait the given number of seconds, re‐
1403 lease the drive, and do normal work as indicated by the other
1404 options used. This option helps to explore the program behavior
1405 when faced with busy drives. Just start a second cdrskin with
1406 option --devices while grab_drive_and_wait= is still active.
1407 --ignore_signals
1409 Try to ignore any signals rather than to abort the program. This
1410 is not a very good idea. You might end up waiting a very long
1411 time for cdrskin to finish.
1412 --list_features
1414 List the SCSI/MMC features which were obtained from the drive
1415 when it was last acquired or re-assessed. Although this is bet‐
1416 ter readable than the raw reply to SCSI command GET CONFIGURA‐
1417 TION, the MMC specification text is still needed for interpret‐
1418 ing it.
1419 The list consists of line groups of the form
1420 Code +/- : Name : Version,P/N
1421 Raw feature data bytes as hex numbers
1422 Parsed info as Name=Value pairs
1423 The headline is the only one which has no blank at its start.
1424 Code is given as 16 bit hex number.
1425 "+" marks a currently offered feature. "-" marks those which may
1426 be offered under different circumstances.
1427 Name is the feature name as listed in MMC specs.
1428 "P" marks persistent features. "N" marks non-persistent fea‐
1429 tures.
1430 The Raw data can occupy more than one line. No "=" occurs in
1431 such lines. If no raw data are present, one line with some
1432 blanks is listed instead.
1433 The Parsed info shows some extracted field values with names
1434 which resemble the names used in the MMC description of the par‐
1435 ticular feature. Parsed info lines contain at least one
1436 Name=Value pair. More than one line is possible. If no parsed
1437 info is produced, one line with some blanks is listed instead.
1438 Example:
1439 0107 - : Real Time Streaming : 4,N
1440 1f 00 00 00
1441 RBCB=1 , SCS=1 , MP2A=1 , WSPD=1 , SW=1
1442 --no_abort_handler
1444 On signals exit even if the drive is in busy state. This is not
1445 a very good idea. You might end up with a stuck drive that re‐
1446 fuses to hand out the media.
1447 --no_blank_appendable
1449 Refuse to blank appendable CD-RW or DVD-RW. This is a feature
1450 that was once builtin with libburn. No information available for
1451 what use case it was needed.
1452 --no_convert_fs_adr
1454 Do only literal translations of dev=. This prevents cdrskin from
1455 test-opening device files in order to find one that matches the
1456 given dev= specifier.
1457 Partly Linux specific: Such opening is needed for Bus,Target,Lun
1458 addresses unless option --old_pseudo_scsi_adr is given. It is
1459 also needed to resolve device file addresses which are not
1460 listed with cdrskin --devices but nevertheless point to a usable
1461 drive. (Like /dev/sg0 using the same SCSI address as /dev/sr0.)
1462 --obs_pad
1464 Pad the data of the last write operation of a DVD-R[W] DAO ses‐
1465 sion, or BD-R session, or stdio: pseudo-drive session up to the
1466 full size of an output chunk. This padding has to be applied
1467 automatically to the other DVD and BD media types, where it
1468 causes e.g. ISO images to have trailing unclaimed blocks.
1469 Whether it is applied automatically to BD-R depends on option
1470 --bdr_obs_exempt.
1471 Use this option if there is the suspicion that DVD-R[W] DAO or
1472 BD-R sessions abort with your kernel and/or DVD drive, if their
1473 size is not a multiple of 16 blocks.
1474 This option may also get enabled at compile time of libburn.
1475 --bdr_obs_exempt
1477 Exempt BD-R media from automatic unconditional transaction end
1478 padding, provided that this padding is not requested by
1479 --obs_pad and that no stream_recording is requested.
1480 This is a new feature introduced with version 1.5.6. It might
1481 become default in later versions.
1482 --old_pseudo_scsi_adr
1484 Linux specific: Use and report literal Bus,Target,Lun addresses
1485 rather than real SCSI and pseudo ATA addresses. This method is
1486 outdated and was never compatible with original cdrecord.
1487 sao_postgap=off|number
1489 Define whether a post-gap shall be written at the end of the
1490 track and how many sectors this gap shall have. A post-gap occu‐
1491 pies the range of an additional index of the track. It contains
1492 zeros. No bytes from the track source will be read for writing
1493 the post-gap.
1494 This setting affects only CD SAO write runs.
1495 sao_pregap=off|number
1497 Define whether a pre-gap shall be written before the track and
1498 how many sectors this pre-gap shall have. A pre-gap is written
1499 in the range of track index 0 and contains zeros. No bytes from
1500 the track source will be read for writing the pre-gap.
1501 This setting affects only CD SAO write runs.
1502 The first track automatically gets a pre-gap of at least 150
1503 sectors. Its size can only be enlarged by this call.
1504 use_immed_bit=on|off|default
1506 Control whether several long lasting SCSI commands shall be exe‐
1507 cuted with the Immed bit, which makes the commands end early
1508 while the drive operation is still going on. cdrskin then in‐
1509 quires progress indication until the drive reports to be ready
1510 again. If this feature is turned off, then blanking and format‐
1511 ting will show no progress indication.
1512 It may depend on the operating system whether use_immed_bit= is
1513 set to "off" by default.
1514 --xa1-ignore
1516 Silently interpret option -xa1 as -data. This may be necessary
1517 if a frontend does not prepare -xa1 block headers but insists in
1518 using option -xa1.
1519
1521 Get an overview of drives and their addresses:
1522 cdrskin -scanbus
1523 cdrskin dev=ATA -scanbus
1524 cdrskin --device_links
1525 Get info about a particular drive or loaded media:
1527 cdrskin dev=0,1,0 -checkdrive
1528 cdrskin dev=ATA:1,0,0 -v -atip
1529 cdrskin dev=/dev/hdc -minfo
1530 Prepare CD-RW or DVD-RW for re-use, DVD-RAM or BD-RE for first use:
1532 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sg1 blank=as_needed -eject
1533 Format DVD-RW to avoid need for blanking before re-use:
1535 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=format_overwrite
1536 De-format DVD-RW to make it capable of multi-session again:
1538 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 blank=deformat_sequential
1539 Write ISO-9660 filesystem image as only one to blank or formatted media:
1541 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/hdc speed=12 fs=8m \
1542 blank=as_needed -eject padsize=300k my_image.iso
1543 Write compressed afio archive on-the-fly (not possible with minimally
1545 blanked DVD-RW or DVD-R DL):
1546 find . | afio -oZ - | \
1547 cdrskin -v dev=0,1,0 fs=32m speed=8 \
1548 blank=as_needed padsize=300k -
1549 Write multi-session to the same CD, DVD-R[W], DVD+R[/DL], or BD-R:
1551 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 1.iso
1552 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 2.iso
1553 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k -multi 3.iso
1554 cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -v padsize=300k 4.iso
1555 Get multi-session info for option -C of program mkisofs:
1557 c_values=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/hdc -msinfo 2>/dev/null)
1558 mkisofs ... -C "$c_values" ...
1559 Inquire free space on media for a -multi run:
1561 x=$(cdrskin dev=/dev/sr0 -multi \
1562 --tell_media_space 2>/dev/null)
1563 echo "Available: $x blocks of 2048 data bytes"
1564 Write audio tracks and CD-TEXT to CD:
1566 cdrskin -v dev=ATA:1,0,0 speed=48 -sao \
1567 input_sheet_v07t=cdtext.v07t \
1568 track1.wav track2.au -audio -swab track3.raw
1569 Extract audio tracks and CD-TEXT from CD into directory /home/me/my_cd:
1571 mkdir /home/me/my_cd
1572 cdrskin -v dev=/dev/sr0 extract_audio_to=/home/me/my_cd \
1573 cdtext_to_v07t=/home/me/my_cd/cdtext.v07t
1574
1576 Startup files:
1577 If not --no_rc is given as the first argument then cdrskin attempts on
1578 startup to read the arguments from the following files:
1579 /etc/default/cdrskin
1581 /etc/opt/cdrskin/rc
1582 /etc/cdrskin/cdrskin.conf
1583 $HOME/.cdrskinrc
1584 The files are read in the sequence given above, but none of them is re‐
1586 quired for cdrskin to function properly. Each readable line is treated
1587 as one single argument. No extra blanks. A first character '#' marks a
1588 comment, empty lines are ignored.
1589 Example content of a startup file:
1590 # This is the default device
1591 dev=0,1,0
1592 # Some more options
1593 fifo_start_at=0
1594 fs=16m
1595 Disabling superuser safety precautions:
1597 The superuser is normally banned from using any other emulated drive
1598 but /dev/null. This ban can be lifted by the existence of file
1599 /root/cdrskin_permissions/allow_emulated_drives
1601 where the directory must be owned by the superuser and must not offer
1603 w-permissions for group or others.
1604 Warning: Superusers must take care not to spoil their hard disk via its
1605 raw block device (like stdio:/dev/hda or stdio:/dev/sd0).
1606
1609 Formatting data track sources for cdrskin:
1610 mkisofs(8), genisoimage(8), xorriso(1), afio(1), star(1)
1611 Other CD/DVD/BD burn programs:
1613 cdrecord(1), wodim(1), xorriso(1)
1614 For DVD/BD burning (also tutor of libburn's DVD/BD capabilities):
1616 growisofs(1)
1617
1619 cdrskin was written by Thomas Schmitt <scdbackup@gmx.net>.
1620 This manual page was started by George Danchev <danchev@spnet.net> and
1622 is now maintained by Thomas Schmitt.
1623 Version 1.5.6, Jun 07, 2023 CDRSKIN(1)