[Announce] sg3_utils-1.44 available

Thu Sep 13 19:55:54 UTC 2018

sg3_utils is a package of command line utilities for sending
SCSI commands to storage devices. In some contexts it can
send some ATA and NVMe commands. The package targets the Linux
4, 3, 2.6 and 2.4 kernel series. It has ports to FreeBSD, Android,
Solaris, and Windows (cygwin and MinGW).

For an overview of sg3_utils and downloads see this page:
     http://sg.danny.cz/sg/sg3_utils.html
The sg_ses utility (for enclosure devices) is discussed at:
     http://sg.danny.cz/sg/sg_ses.html
A full changelog can be found at:
     http://sg.danny.cz/sg/p/sg3_utils.ChangeLog

There is no FreeBSD "ports" specific code in the tarball; build
and install with:
    ./configure ; make ; make install
It should not be needed but './autogen.sh' can precede the above
sequence. There is a README.freebsd file in the tarball.

If any FreeBSD user has access to a NVMe enclosure that supports the
new NVME-MI SES Send and Receive commands, I would be interested in
how sg_ses performs on that enclosure using FreeBSD.

Changelog summary for sg3_utils-1.44 [20180912 rev 791] since
version 1.42 [20160217]

   New utilities
     - sg_bg_ctl: send Background control command (sbc4r08)
     - sg_seek: send SEEK(10) or PRE-FETCH(10 or 16)
     - sg_stream_ctl: send STREAM CONTROL or GET STREAM STATUS
     - sg_write_x: send either WRITE(n), ORWRITE(n), WRITE ATOMIC(n),
       WRITE SAME(n), WRITE SCATTERED(n) or WRITE STREAM(n); where 'n'
       is 16 or 32 which is the length of the cdb

   New general options:
     - --dry-run option added to utilities that would otherwise modify
       user data and potentially take a long time. Utilties that the
       --dry-run option has been added to: sg_dd, sg_format, sgm_dd,
       sgp_dd, sg_sanitize, sg_ses_microcode, sg_unmap, sg_write_buffer
       and sg_write_x
     - --timeout=SECS option for extending the default command OS
       timeout added to: sg_compare_and_write, sg_format, sg_raw,
       sg_sanitize, sg_senddiag, sg_sync, sg_unmap, sg_write_buffer,
       sg_write_same, sg_write_verify, and sg_write_x

   Take input from file rather than SCSI device
     The number of 'decoding' utilities that can take input from a file
     rather than a SCSI device has been expanded. This allows data to be
     collected as hex or binary files and later analysed. Utilities
     that have this facility are: sg_inq, sg_logs, sg_read_attr, sg_ses
     and sg_vpd. The sdparm utility, in its own package, decodes mode
     pages (and VPD pages) now has this facility while the sg_modes
     utility does not.

   NVMe support
     NVMe have chosen to use the SES-3 standard with the addition
     of the NVME-MI SES Send and Receive admin commands. Rather than
     modify sg_ses, the underlying library has a small SNTL used when
     the given device is a NVMe device. sg_ses (and sg_ses_microcode)
     can now be used with a NVMe enclosure. sg_inq decodes part of
     the NVME Identify controller and namespace response. sg_raw can
     issue NVMe admin commands and sg_senddiag can issue SES Send and
     Receive admin commands.

   Page align many heap allocations
     Both NVMe and certain FreeBSD pass-through calls require page
     alignment. So many (but not all) malloc() calls have been replaced
     by sg_memalign() which is a front for posix_memalign() if it is
     available. Typically the default page size (often 4096 (bytes)) is
     used for alignment.

   Individual utility additions
     - rescan-scsi-bus.sh: harden code, install by default
       - add --ignore-rev to ignore revision change
     - sg_dd: add --verbose option; allow multiple short options (e.g. -dvv)
     - sgp_dd: pthread_cancel() has issues in C++ (and the Android
       multi-threaded library doesn't supply it) so use pthread_kill()
     - add --dry-run and --verbose options
     - sg_decode sense: add --cdb and --err=ES options
     - sg_format: add --quick option to skip reconsideration time
       - extend --wait timeout to 40 hours for disk sizes > 4 TB
     - sg_get_lba_status: add --report-type= option (sbc4r12)
       - add support for 32 byte cdb variant (sbc4r14)
       - add support for --element-id= and --scan-len= options (sbc4r14)
       - decode response's RTP and two more provisioning statuses and the
         additional status (sbc4r12); decode completion condition (sbc4r14)
     - sg_inq: fix potential unbounded loop in --export
       - add --only to stop standard inquiry decoding also doing a serial
         number vpd page (0x80) fetch
       - with NVMe --only restricts to a single Identify controller command
       - add --long which decodes more of the NVMe Identify cmd responses
     - sg_inq+sg_vpd: update Extended inquiry data vpd page (spc5r09,
       spc5r17 and 17-142r5)
       - add --force option to bypass checking Supported VPD Pages page and
         fetch requested page directly
     - sg_logs: add --vendor=VP and '--pdt=DT' options
     - sg_modes: add Out of band management control mpage
       - accept acronym for mode page
     - sg_opcode: add '--enumerate' and '--pdt=' options; support CDLP
       (command duration limit page) and MLU (Multiple Logical Units)
     - sg_persist: add --maxlen-LEN option, LEN defaults to decimal, similar
       to --alloc-length= which takes hex; add Replace Lost Reservation
       Capable (RLR_C) bit in Report Capabilities (spc4r36)
     - sg_raw: add --cmdfile=CF option, CF in hex unless --raw option also
       given; this and other tweaks facilitate sending 64 byte NVMe admin
       commands to be sent
       - add --enumerate option to decode command name from cdb
     - sg_rdac: add sanity checks for -f=lun value
     - sg_rep_zones: expand --help option information
     - sg_reset_wp add --count=ZC option, zbc2r01b
     - sg_sat_identify: expand to take --len=32
     - sg_ses: handle 2 bit EIIOE field in aes dpage
       - add --quiet option to suppress messages
       - allow multiple --clear=, --get= and --set= options
       - allow individual index ranges (e.g. --index=3-5)
       - allow --index=IIA with -ee to enumerate only fields belonging to
         element type IIA
     - sg_ses_microcode: add -ealsd option (exit after last send diagnostic)
     - sg_timestamp: add '--no-timestamp', '--elapsed' and '--hex' options
     - sg_turs: add --low option to force low level sg_pt interface use
     - sg_unmap: add --all=ST,RN[,LA] option to unmap large contiguous
       segments of a disk/ssd
     - sg_vpd: 3 party copy VPD page improvements
       - fully implement Device constituents VPD page
     - sg_wr_mode: add --rtd option for RTD bit
     - sg_zone: add --sequentialize, --count=ZC options, zbc2r01b

N.B. sg3_utils is developed using the author's private subversion repository.
There is an official git mirror at:
     https://github.com/hreinecke/sg3_utils
which unfortunately has a version 1.43 release tag from 20160218 (rev: 665).
Some Linux distributions therefore assumed 1.43 was released in 2016 rather
than 2 days ago. Solution: roll out release 1.44 (svn rev 791).

Doug Gilbert