1cdw 0.8.1(1) General Commands Manual cdw 0.8.1(1)
2
6 cdw - front-end for cdrecord, mkisofs, growisofs, mkudffs and other
7 tools
8
11 cdw [--help] [--version] [--enable-dvd-rp-dl] [--escdelay=X]
12
15 cdw is a front-end for command-line tools used for burning data CD and
16 DVD discs and for related tasks. The tools are: cdrecord/wodim, mk‐
17 isofs/genisoimage, growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, dvd+rw-format, xorriso.
18 You can also use cdw to rip tracks from your audio CD to raw audio
19 files. Limited support for copying content of CD and DVD discs to im‐
20 age files is also provided. cdw can utilize md5sum program to verify
21 correctness of writing ISO image to CD and DVD disc. cdw can be also
22 used to create UDF image file using mkudffs.
23 cdw uses ncurses library to build user-friendly interface and it can be
26 used in UNIX terminal window and in terminal emulator (like konsole,
27 rxvt or gnome-console) in X environment.
28 cdw supports ISO9660 file system for optical media: ISO9660 file system
31 can be written to stand-alone .iso file, or burned to optical disc.
32 cdw also supports UDF file system: UDF file system can be written to
33 stand-alone .udf file. Currently there is no support for burning UDF
34 file system directly to optical disc. Other filesystem for optical me‐
35 dia are not supported nor recognized.
36
39 Scope of supported features depends on which tools are installed on end
40 user's system. Full list of supported media and actions is listed be‐
41 low.
42 CD-AUDIO
45 ripping audio tracks to raw audio files
46 CD-R writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session) with
49 cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying content of first session to
50 image file on your hard disc
51 CD-RW writing files and ISO images (single- and multi-session), eras‐
54 ing (erasing only TOC or blanking whole disc) with
55 cdrecord/wodim and xorriso; copying content of first session to
56 image file on your hard disc
57 DVD-R, DVD+R
60 writing files and ISO images (multi-session, but without closing
61 disc, or single-session) with cdrecord/wodim, dvd+rw-tools and
62 xorriso
63 DVD-RW writing files and ISO images (multi-session or single-session);
66 erasing, formatting - quick or slow (full) method; dvd+rw-tools
67 only. WARNING: multiple blanking may quickly render your DVD-RW
68 unusable.
69 DVD+RW writing files and ISO images (both writing to disc from scratch
72 and appending data), without closing disc; blanking disc, but
73 takes lots of time, and you don't need to do it anyway - you can
74 always start writing to the same disc like you would write to
75 blank disc. DVD+RW can be handled by both cdrecord/wodim and
76 dvd+rw-tools. Notice that when using wodim you may encounter
77 problems.
78 DVD+R DL
81 there is now partial support for DVD+R DL discs: cdw can burn
82 ISO image and files in single session. User has to explicitly
83 enable it by passing "--enable-dvd-rp-dl" command line argument
84 to cdw; cdw can handle DVD+R DL discs only using dvd+rw-tools;
85 this feature is very incomplete and possibly buggy.
86 Dual-layer media other than DVD+R DL are not yet supported.
88 DVD-RAM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD discs are not supported.
89
92 You can write data discs either by using previously created ISO image
93 file, or by selecting files from hard drive and writing them directly
94 to disc. cdw provides UI elements for both actions.
95 First action before creating new ISO/UDF image or writing files to disc
98 is selecting files from your hard drive. You can do this by selecting
99 "Add files" in left-hand menu. You will be presented with simple file
100 selector. Use Up/Down arrows or Page Up/Page Down keys to move, Enter
101 key to change current directory, Space key to select files or directo‐
102 ries. Selected items will be added to list displayed in main window.
103 Use Escape key to close file selector window. The selector window shows
104 you all files and directories (including hidden files) in current di‐
105 rectory. You will see file size information for every file on the list.
106 You can also delete previously selected files from list: select "Delete
107 files" from the menu and use Up/Down arrow keys to move and Delete key
108 to delete highlighted item. Use Escape key when you finish deleting
109 files from list of selected files.
110 Now you can select "Create image" from left-hand menu. cdw will display
113 a wizard window where you can change most common options for creating
114 ISO9660 or UDF image, and where you can select path to target image
115 file on your hard disc.
116 You can also select "Write files to disc" to write selected files to
119 optical disc. If you select the option, cdw will display a wizard dia‐
120 log window, in which you can adjust most common options related to
121 burning files to disc (for this function only ISO9660 file system is
122 supported).
123 If you want to write ISO image file to optical disc, use "Write image
126 to disc" option in left hand menu. You will be presented with file
127 picker dialog that allows you to select existing ISO image file from
128 your hard disc. After that cdw will display a wizard window, where you
129 can modify most common options available for burning a disc.
130 cdw allows you to verify correctness of this operation by checking a
133 digest (e.g. md5 sum) of ISO file and of track written to disc. You
134 can request this by checking "Verify write" checkbox that will appear
135 in write wizard. Please note that this checkbox is visible only when
136 you are writing ISO file to empty CD or DVD disc. This function is
137 still experimental. Make sure that a program for calculating digests is
138 installed on your machine. cdw supports following programs: md5sum
139 sha1sum sha224sum sha256sum sha384sum sha512sum
140 Another operation you can perform is erasing optical disc - CD-RW,
143 DVD-RW (both Sequential Recording and Restricted Overwrite) or DVD+RW.
144 You can do this by selecting "Erase disc" option in cdw left-hand menu.
145 Please note that extensive erasing of DVD-RW may render your disc unus‐
146 able. In case of CD-RW and DVD-RW you will be asked what type of blank‐
147 ing you want to perform. You can choose fast mode or full mode. First
148 one doesn't take too much time (in case of CD-RW it only erases table
149 of content of your disc), second one can be very time-consuming, de‐
150 pending on disc size and selected speed.
151 When you will attempt to blank DVD-RW disc, blanking wizard will dis‐
154 play dropdown that allows you to choose mode (format) of DVD-RW disc:
155 Restricted Overwrite or Sequential Recording.
156 cdw can be useful when you want to copy your data CD or DVD to ISO im‐
159 age on your hard drive. You do this by selecting "Read disc" option
160 from left-hand menu. This function allows you to copy first track from
161 your data CD or DVD. Reading second and following tracks from data
162 discs, and reading discs written in mixed mode (one or more data tracks
163 + audio tracks) are not supported.
164 You can also use cdw to copy your audio CD to separate files (each
167 track will be written to separate file). You do this by selecting "Read
168 disc" option from menu. cdw can't convert audio tracks to any popular
169 audio format. The tracks are written to files in the same format as
170 they appear on CD (2 channels, 44100 samples per second, 16 bit signed
171 PCM, little endian (intel)). The file names have following name format:
172 track_xx.raw (where xx is track number). You can convert raw track file
173 to wav file using e.g. sox command:
174 sox -c 2 -r 44100 -L -2 -s track_name.raw -t wav track_name.wav
177 The last operation that cdw offers is verification of data. You can use
180 it for two purposes:
181 • calculating a digest of selected file from hard disc;
184 • comparing selected file with content of first track on opti‐
186 cal disc; The second option also utilizes digest tool (e.g.
187 md5sum), but may not work correctly, so it is marked in cdw
188 as "Experimental".
189 cdw has Configuration window, accessed by selecting "Configuration"
192 item in left-hand menu. The window allows you to set up some options
193 for tools used by cdw, and for cdw itself. Configuration window has
194 following tabs (you can access them using keys F2-F6):
195 • Log and misc - contains options related to log file in which
198 cdw logs its operations, and to some aspects of behavior of
199 cdw.
200 • Tools - options in this tab allow you to select tools from
203 your operating system that will be used to create ISO9660 im‐
204 ages, burn data to disc etc. You can safely leave "Configure
205 tools manually" checkbox unmarked.
206 • Audio - contains options related to ripping audio CDs.
209 • Hardware - probably will be visited only once, when you use
212 cdw for the first time or when you change your hardware con‐
213 figuration. Here you can set paths to your devices used by
214 cdw.
215 • UDF - this tab contains only text information about require‐
218 ments for creating UDF file system. There are no options
219 available in this tab. All options for creating UDF file sys‐
220 tem can be accessed through UDF image wizard.
221 All options available in Configuration window are described
223 below, in CONFIGURATION section.
224 You have to use F9 or F10 key to save any changes made in Configuration
227 window and close the window. To close Configuration window without sav‐
228 ing changes use Escape key. Values from "Tools" tab are saved only tem‐
229 porarily, they aren't stored in permanent configuration file.
230 You can control cdw using application's menu (visible on left side of
233 screen), or using hotkeys.
234 Main menu items
237 • Add files: Select files and directories that you want to
238 write to optical disc or to ISO image on your hard disc.
239 Press Space to select a file or directory, use Up and Down
240 arrows to move on the list, press Enter key to change direc‐
241 tory, press Escape key to close file selection dialog.
242 • Delete files: List of selected files is displayed on the
245 right side of the screen. If you want to delete files from
246 the list, select this button and use Delete key to delete a
247 file, Up and Down arrows to move on the list or press Escape
248 to end deleting.
249 • Write files to disc: write selected files to optical disc
252 that is currently in drive. You will be warned if there is no
253 disc in drive, the drive is not ready or the disc is mounted.
254 • Create image: write selected files to ISO9660 or UDF image
257 file. The target image file can be selected in file picker
258 window.
259 • Write image to disc: write ISO image file to optical disc.
262 The ISO image file can be selected in file picker window. You
263 will be warned if there is no disc in drive, the drive is not
264 ready or the disc is mounted.
265 • Read disc: Copy content of your single session data CD/DVD or
268 audio CD to files on hard drive. In case of data CD/DVD discs
269 cdw will create correct image file on your hard disc, but
270 only for first track on disc, rest of tracks won't be read
271 (cdw can't read them correctly). In case of audio CDs cdw
272 will copy each audio track to separate raw audio file. You
273 will have to recode the raw audio track files in order to
274 play them in your media player.
275 • Erase disc: Erase data (partially or fully) from rewritable
278 disc (CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW) that is currently in drive. You
279 can select mode of erasing CD-RW or DVD-RW: fast or full. You
280 can't select mode of erasing of DVD+RW.
281 • Verify data: Calculate digest of file selected from hard
284 drive, or compare any file with first track of optical disc.
285 • Configuration: Selecting this menu option will display cdw
288 Configuration window, where you can set various options.
289 • About: this option displays window with short information
292 about cdw.
293 • Quit: close cdw and return to your command line.
296 Keys (hotkeys, available in main cdw window)
299 • F1, H, ? - Show this help: Display help window with list of
300 hotkeys.
301 • F9/F10 - Show license of this program: display cdw license.
303 • C - Show Configuration window
305 • D - Show information about disc: cdw will run external tool
307 to get some meta-information about optical disc in your drive
308 and display this information in text window.
309 • E - Eject drive tray: open your optical drive tray (will
311 close tray if it is already open).
312 • F - Write selected files to disc: Write currently selected
314 files to optical disc.
315 • G - Read content of CD: Copy content of your audio or data CD
317 to your hard drive.
318 • I - Write ISO image to disc: Write ISO image to optical disc.
320 • L - Show log of last operation: view file with record of lat‐
322 est operations.
323 • R - Refresh information about disc: cdw will run external
325 tool to get some meta-information about optical disc in your
326 drive and will display short summary in lower-left part of
327 main cdw window.
328 • V - Verify data: calculate digest of selected file (and of
330 first track on optical disc).
331 • Q - Quit: close cdw and return to your command line
333
336 This section describes Configuration module available via "Configura‐
337 tion" button in left-hand menu in main cdw window. You have to press
338 F9/F10 in Configuration window to save changes made in the window and
339 exit or press Escape key to close configuration window without saving
340 changes. Please note that changes made in "Tools" tab are saved only
341 for current session with cdw.
342 • Log and misc (first tab):
345 • Log file path - path to file, in which cdw writes its mes‐
347 sages and messages from external tools (mkisofs, cdrecord,
348 growisofs, dvd+rw-mediainfo, xorriso, mkudffs, etc.).
349 Specifying this path is obligatory.
350 • Show log after actions - show the content of log file af‐
352 ter some of actions performed by cdw.
353 • Volume size - size of ISO/UDF filesystem that you want to
355 create. Most often it is equal to capacity of optical disc
356 that you want burn data to. This is a dropdown, from which
357 you can select one of preselected values, or select "Cus‐
358 tom size". Value of custom size can be entered below the
359 dropdown.
360 • Custom size - size of ISO/UDF filesystem that you want to
362 create. This is the place where you can enter nonstandard
363 value of target ISO/UDF filesystem size.
364 • a checkbox for following symbolic links in selected files.
366 Read the text next to the checkbox for more information.
367 • a checkbox modifying style of navigation in file system
369 browser windows. When this field checked, you can use
370 Left/Right keys on keyboard to move up/down in hierarchy
371 of directories in file system. This option work similarly
372 to Midnight Commander's "Lynx-like motion" option.
373 • Tools (second tab):
376 First thing that you will see in this tab "Configure tools
378 manually" checkbox, it is unchecked by default, and this is
379 safe default value. In this state cdw select tools itself.
380 If you check this checkbox you will be presented with six
381 dropdowns: first three allow you to select tools or families
382 of tools intended for specific tasks. Remaining dropdowns
383 allow you to select paths to some tools used by cdw for some
384 tasks. All these dropdowns are explained below.
385 • "Tool for creating stand alone ISO9660 file" - here you
388 select a tool used to create ISO9660 file saved on hard
389 disc (stand-alone file). Depending on configuration of
390 your software, here you can find mkisofs (genisoimage) and
391 xorriso.
392 • "Tools for handling CDs" dropdown - here you select a tool
395 that will be used to burn data to CD/CD-RW discs and to
396 erase CD-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your
397 software, here you can find cdrecord (wodim) and xorriso.
398 • "Tools for handling DVDs" dropdown - here you select a
401 tool that will be used to burn data to DVD discs and to
402 erase DVD+/-RW discs. Depending on configuration of your
403 software, here you can find dvd+rw-tools, cdrecord (wodim)
404 and xorriso. Note that xorriso can be used only for
405 DVD+/-R discs.
406 • "Path to mkisofs" dropdown - here you can select one of
409 implementations of mkisofs installed in your system (e.g.
410 if you have mkisofs and genisoimage).
411 • "Path to cdrecord" dropdown - here you can select one of
414 implementations of cdrecord installed in your system (e.g.
415 if you have cdrecord and wodim).
416 • "Digest tool" - here you can select a tool used for calcu‐
419 lating digest (checksum) - the tool is used e.g. during
420 verification of burning of ISO9660 file to optical disc.
421 md5sum tool is the default one, if found.
422 Remember that these settings are saved only for your cur‐
424 rent session with cdw, and that the settings will be dis‐
425 carded when you close cdw.
426 • Audio (third tab):
429 • Audio output dir - path to directory, into which cdw will
431 write raw audio tracks, ripped from audio CD.
432 • Hardware (fourth tab):
435 • "cdw should use this drive" dropdown - option allowing you
437 to select one of detected drives, or to use path to drive
438 entered manually ("custom path");
439 • "Custom path to drive" - field in which you can specify
441 your own path to a device, to be used when cdw can't au‐
442 todetect all drives in your computer.
443 • SCSI device - parameters describing your SCSI hardware, in
445 following format: scsibus,target,lun (for a SCSI-emulated
446 IDE CDRW: 0,0,0). It is used only by cdrecord and you
447 should enter appropriate value only if cdrecord has prob‐
448 lems with device path in form of '/dev/xxx'. Otherwise
449 this field should be left empty. This option hasn't been
450 tested, so use it at your own risk.
451 • UDF (fifth tab): This tab contains only basic information
454 about what is required by cdw to create UDF file systems. Op‐
455 tions related to UDF file system are available in UDF image
456 wizard.
457 Notice that cdw doesn't specify (almost) any default options
459 for mkudffs or rsync. User has to select himself the best
460 set of options for these programs that suit his needs.
461 "-a" option for rsync is a good starting point. If your ver‐
463 sion of rsync supports "--info=progress2" and you enter this
464 option in rsync options field, cdw will show a better
465 progress indication.
466
469 Command line options are following:
470 -h, -- help
473 displays information about invoking cdw and its options
474 -v, --version
477 displays cdw version and copyright information
478 --enable-dvd+rp-dl
481 enables very basic support for DVD+R DL discs
482 --escdelay=X
485 modifies delay time between pressing Escape key in cdw window
486 and reaction to the key
487
490 • cdw.conf: Configuration file, usually stored in $HOME/.cdw/
491 directory.
492 • cdw.log: Log file, by default stored in $HOME/.cdw/ direc‐
494 tory. Path to this file can be modified in Configuration win‐
495 dow ("Log and misc" tab > 'Log file path' field).
496 • cdw.colors: File with definition of color schemes used to
498 customize interface of cdw. File is stored in $HOME/.cdw/
499 directory.
500 • temporary files: cdw uses some small temporary files to store
502 various information. They are usually created in /tmp direc‐
503 tory. If everything goes well they are very short-lived and
504 are removed as soon as they are no longer needed.
505
508 • HOME - cdw assumes that this variable exists and is set to
509 valid user directory. If not, then user is asked to select
510 some other 'base' directory.
511 • PATH - cdw reads this environment variable to find directo‐
513 ries with executable files. cdw will search in these directo‐
514 ries for some tools.
515
518 cdw uses log file ($HOME/.cdw/cdw.log by default) to store information
519 about actions performed. You can access this file using your file man‐
520 ager, or pressing 'L' key in cdw window. Read this file for any hints
521 if you experience any problems.
522
525 There are still some bugs related to memory management.
526 cdw is developed and tested almost exclusively on x64 GNU/Linux, run‐
529 ning cdw on other platforms may produce some platform-specific bugs.
530 Currently I can't verify them in any way.
531 cdw still fails to detect some problems reported by wodim/cdrecord mk‐
534 isofs/genisoimage or growisofs, although things have improved in latest
535 few versions. Support for xorriso is brand new, so there is a lot error
536 messages printed by xorriso, that cdw is unaware of, and will happily
537 ignore them. It is recommended to read log file after every operation.
538 Copying data CDs to ISO image may finish with message "Problems oc‐
541 curred when copying tracks". This does not have to mean that output ISO
542 file is corrupted: this be a sign of some low-level problems when read‐
543 ing from optical disc. Similar message displayed after ripping audio
544 CD may mean that one or more track files created on your hard disc is
545 corrupted and it is caused by invalid audio CD.
546 If you notice any other bugs please let me know. You can do this either
549 using bug tracker on cdw project site (http://source‐
550 forge.net/projects/cdw/) or by sending me an e-mail: acerion@wp.pl.
551
554 cdw is currently developed by Kamil Ignacak (acerion@wp.pl). First de‐
555 veloper of cdw was Varkonyi Balazs (http://source‐
556 forge.net/users/vbali/).
557
560 Copyright (C) 2002 Varkonyi Balazs, Copyright (C) 2007 - 2016 Kamil Ig‐
561 nacak. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
562 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as pub‐
563 lished by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the Li‐
564 cense, or (at your option) any later version. See
565 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html for details.
566
569 cdrecord(1), mkisofs(8), growisofs(1), dvd+rw-mediainfo(1), dvd+rw-for‐
570 mat(1), cdrdao, mybashburn, k3b(1), gnomebaker(1), xorriso(1), li‐
571 bisoburn1, libburn4, mkudffs(1), rsync(1), libcdio.
572 2 April 2016 cdw 0.8.1(1)