summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-11 08:27:49 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-11 08:27:49 +0000
commitace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6 (patch)
treeb2d64bc10158fdd5497876388cd68142ca374ed3 /Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadlinux-ace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6.tar.xz
linux-ace9429bb58fd418f0c81d4c2835699bddf6bde6.zip
Adding upstream version 6.6.15.upstream/6.6.15
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst107
1 files changed, 107 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst b/Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b82ffe4d88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/scsi/scsi-generic.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========================
+SCSI Generic (sg) driver
+========================
+
+ 20020126
+
+Introduction
+============
+The SCSI Generic driver (sg) is one of the four "high level" SCSI device
+drivers along with sd, st and sr (disk, tape and CD-ROM respectively). Sg
+is more generalized (but lower level) than its siblings and tends to be
+used on SCSI devices that don't fit into the already serviced categories.
+Thus sg is used for scanners, CD writers and reading audio CDs digitally
+amongst other things.
+
+Rather than document the driver's interface here, version information
+is provided plus pointers (i.e. URLs) where to find documentation
+and examples.
+
+
+Major versions of the sg driver
+===============================
+There are three major versions of sg found in the Linux kernel (lk):
+ - sg version 1 (original) from 1992 to early 1999 (lk 2.2.5) .
+ It is based in the sg_header interface structure.
+ - sg version 2 from lk 2.2.6 in the 2.2 series. It is based on
+ an extended version of the sg_header interface structure.
+ - sg version 3 found in the lk 2.4 series (and the lk 2.5 series).
+ It adds the sg_io_hdr interface structure.
+
+
+Sg driver documentation
+=======================
+The most recent documentation of the sg driver is kept at
+
+- https://sg.danny.cz/sg/
+
+This describes the sg version 3 driver found in the lk 2.4 series.
+
+Documentation (large version) for the version 2 sg driver found in the
+lk 2.2 series can be found at
+
+- https://sg.danny.cz/sg/p/scsi-generic_long.txt.
+
+The original documentation for the sg driver (prior to lk 2.2.6) can be
+found in the LDP archives at
+
+- https://tldp.org/HOWTO/archived/SCSI-Programming-HOWTO/index.html
+
+A more general description of the Linux SCSI subsystem of which sg is a
+part can be found at https://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/SCSI-2.4-HOWTO .
+
+
+Example code and utilities
+==========================
+There are two packages of sg utilities:
+
+ ========= ==========================================================
+ sg3_utils for the sg version 3 driver found in lk 2.4
+ sg_utils for the sg version 2 (and original) driver found in lk 2.2
+ and earlier
+ ========= ==========================================================
+
+Both packages will work in the lk 2.4 series. However, sg3_utils offers more
+capabilities. They can be found at: https://sg.danny.cz/sg/sg3_utils.html and
+freecode.com
+
+Another approach is to look at the applications that use the sg driver.
+These include cdrecord, cdparanoia, SANE and cdrdao.
+
+
+Mapping of Linux kernel versions to sg driver versions
+======================================================
+Here is a list of Linux kernels in the 2.4 series that had the new version
+of the sg driver:
+
+ - lk 2.4.0 : sg version 3.1.17
+ - lk 2.4.7 : sg version 3.1.19
+ - lk 2.4.10 : sg version 3.1.20 [#]_
+ - lk 2.4.17 : sg version 3.1.22
+
+.. [#] There were 3 changes to sg version 3.1.20 by third parties in the
+ next six Linux kernel versions.
+
+For reference here is a list of Linux kernels in the 2.2 series that had
+the new version of the sg driver:
+
+ - lk 2.2.0 : original sg version [with no version number]
+ - lk 2.2.6 : sg version 2.1.31
+ - lk 2.2.8 : sg version 2.1.32
+ - lk 2.2.10 : sg version 2.1.34 [SG_GET_VERSION_NUM ioctl first appeared]
+ - lk 2.2.14 : sg version 2.1.36
+ - lk 2.2.16 : sg version 2.1.38
+ - lk 2.2.17 : sg version 2.1.39
+ - lk 2.2.20 : sg version 2.1.40
+
+The lk 2.5 development series currently contains sg version 3.5.23
+which is functionally equivalent to sg version 3.1.22 found in lk 2.4.17.
+
+
+Douglas Gilbert
+
+26th January 2002
+
+dgilbert@interlog.com