Summary of HDIO_ ioctl calls. ============================ Edward A. Falk November, 2004 This document attempts to describe the ioctl(2) calls supported by the HD/IDE layer. These are by-and-large implemented (as of Linux 2.6) in drivers/ide/ide.c and drivers/block/scsi_ioctl.c ioctl values are listed in . As of this writing, they are as follows: ioctls that pass argument pointers to user space: HDIO_GETGEO get device geometry HDIO_GET_UNMASKINTR get current unmask setting HDIO_GET_MULTCOUNT get current IDE blockmode setting HDIO_GET_QDMA get use-qdma flag HDIO_SET_XFER set transfer rate via proc HDIO_OBSOLETE_IDENTITY OBSOLETE, DO NOT USE HDIO_GET_KEEPSETTINGS get keep-settings-on-reset flag HDIO_GET_32BIT get current io_32bit setting HDIO_GET_NOWERR get ignore-write-error flag HDIO_GET_DMA get use-dma flag HDIO_GET_NICE get nice flags HDIO_GET_IDENTITY get IDE identification info HDIO_GET_WCACHE get write cache mode on|off HDIO_GET_ACOUSTIC get acoustic value HDIO_GET_ADDRESS get sector addressing mode HDIO_GET_BUSSTATE get the bus state of the hwif HDIO_TRISTATE_HWIF execute a channel tristate HDIO_DRIVE_RESET execute a device reset HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE execute raw taskfile HDIO_DRIVE_TASK execute task and special drive command HDIO_DRIVE_CMD execute a special drive command HDIO_DRIVE_CMD_AEB HDIO_DRIVE_TASK ioctls that pass non-pointer values: HDIO_SET_MULTCOUNT change IDE blockmode HDIO_SET_UNMASKINTR permit other irqs during I/O HDIO_SET_KEEPSETTINGS keep ioctl settings on reset HDIO_SET_32BIT change io_32bit flags HDIO_SET_NOWERR change ignore-write-error flag HDIO_SET_DMA change use-dma flag HDIO_SET_PIO_MODE reconfig interface to new speed HDIO_SCAN_HWIF register and (re)scan interface HDIO_SET_NICE set nice flags HDIO_UNREGISTER_HWIF unregister interface HDIO_SET_WCACHE change write cache enable-disable HDIO_SET_ACOUSTIC change acoustic behavior HDIO_SET_BUSSTATE set the bus state of the hwif HDIO_SET_QDMA change use-qdma flag HDIO_SET_ADDRESS change lba addressing modes HDIO_SET_IDE_SCSI Set scsi emulation mode on/off HDIO_SET_SCSI_IDE not implemented yet The information that follows was determined from reading kernel source code. It is likely that some corrections will be made over time. General: Unless otherwise specified, all ioctl calls return 0 on success and -1 with errno set to an appropriate value on error. Unless otherwise specified, all ioctl calls return -1 and set errno to EFAULT on a failed attempt to copy data to or from user address space. Unless otherwise specified, all data structures and constants are defined in HDIO_GETGEO get device geometry usage: struct hd_geometry geom; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GETGEO, &geom); inputs: none outputs: hd_geometry structure containing: heads number of heads sectors number of sectors/track cylinders number of cylinders, mod 65536 start starting sector of this partition. error returns: EINVAL if the device is not a disk drive or floppy drive, or if the user passes a null pointer notes: Not particularly useful with modern disk drives, whose geometry is a polite fiction anyway. Modern drives are addressed purely by sector number nowadays (lba addressing), and the drive geometry is an abstraction which is actually subject to change. Currently (as of Nov 2004), the geometry values are the "bios" values -- presumably the values the drive had when Linux first booted. In addition, the cylinders field of the hd_geometry is an unsigned short, meaning that on most architectures, this ioctl will not return a meaningful value on drives with more than 65535 tracks. The start field is unsigned long, meaning that it will not contain a meaningful value for disks over 219 Gb in size. HDIO_GET_UNMASKINTR get current unmask setting usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_UNMASKINTR, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the drive's current unmask setting HDIO_SET_UNMASKINTR permit other irqs during I/O usage: unsigned long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_UNMASKINTR, val); inputs: New value for unmask flag outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_GET_MULTCOUNT get current IDE blockmode setting usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_MULTCOUNT, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current IDE block mode setting. This controls how many sectors the drive will transfer per interrupt. HDIO_SET_MULTCOUNT change IDE blockmode usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_MULTCOUNT, val); inputs: New value for IDE block mode setting. This controls how many sectors the drive will transfer per interrupt. outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range supported by disk. EBUSY Controller busy or blockmode already set. EIO Drive did not accept new block mode. notes: Source code comments read: This is tightly woven into the driver->do_special cannot touch. DON'T do it again until a total personality rewrite is committed. If blockmode has already been set, this ioctl will fail with EBUSY HDIO_GET_QDMA get use-qdma flag Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1 HDIO_SET_XFER set transfer rate via proc Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1 HDIO_OBSOLETE_IDENTITY OBSOLETE, DO NOT USE Same as HDIO_GET_IDENTITY (see below), except that it only returns the first 142 bytes of drive identity information. HDIO_GET_IDENTITY get IDE identification info usage: unsigned char identity[512]; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_IDENTITY, identity); inputs: none outputs: ATA drive identity information. For full description, see the IDENTIFY DEVICE and IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE commands in the ATA specification. error returns: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) ENOMSG IDENTIFY DEVICE information not available notes: Returns information that was obtained when the drive was probed. Some of this information is subject to change, and this ioctl does not re-probe the drive to update the information. This information is also available from /proc/ide/hdX/identify HDIO_GET_KEEPSETTINGS get keep-settings-on-reset flag usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_KEEPSETTINGS, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current "keep settings" flag notes: When set, indicates that kernel should restore settings after a drive reset. HDIO_SET_KEEPSETTINGS keep ioctl settings on reset usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_KEEPSETTINGS, val); inputs: New value for keep_settings flag outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_GET_32BIT get current io_32bit setting usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_32BIT, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current io_32bit setting notes: 0=16-bit, 1=32-bit, 2,3 = 32bit+sync HDIO_GET_NOWERR get ignore-write-error flag usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_NOWERR, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current ignore-write-error flag HDIO_GET_DMA get use-dma flag usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_DMA, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current use-dma flag HDIO_GET_NICE get nice flags usage: long nice; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_NICE, &nice); inputs: none outputs: The drive's "nice" values. notes: Per-drive flags which determine when the system will give more bandwidth to other devices sharing the same IDE bus. See , near symbol IDE_NICE_DSC_OVERLAP. HDIO_SET_NICE set nice flags usage: unsigned long nice; ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_NICE, nice); inputs: bitmask of nice flags. outputs: none error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EPERM Flags other than DSC_OVERLAP and NICE_1 set. EPERM DSC_OVERLAP specified but not supported by drive notes: This ioctl sets the DSC_OVERLAP and NICE_1 flags from values provided by the user. Nice flags are listed in , starting with IDE_NICE_DSC_OVERLAP. These values represent shifts. HDIO_GET_WCACHE get write cache mode on|off usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_WCACHE, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current write cache mode HDIO_GET_ACOUSTIC get acoustic value usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_ACOUSTIC, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current acoustic settings notes: See HDIO_SET_ACOUSTIC HDIO_GET_ADDRESS usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_GET_ADDRESS, &val); inputs: none outputs: The value of the current addressing mode: 0 = 28-bit 1 = 48-bit 2 = 48-bit doing 28-bit 3 = 64-bit HDIO_GET_BUSSTATE get the bus state of the hwif usage: long state; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SCAN_HWIF, &state); inputs: none outputs: Current power state of the IDE bus. One of BUSSTATE_OFF, BUSSTATE_ON, or BUSSTATE_TRISTATE error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN HDIO_SET_BUSSTATE set the bus state of the hwif usage: int state; ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_SCAN_HWIF, state); inputs: Desired IDE power state. One of BUSSTATE_OFF, BUSSTATE_ON, or BUSSTATE_TRISTATE outputs: none error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_RAWIO EOPNOTSUPP Hardware interface does not support bus power control HDIO_TRISTATE_HWIF execute a channel tristate Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1. See HDIO_SET_BUSSTATE HDIO_DRIVE_RESET execute a device reset usage: int args[3] ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_DRIVE_RESET, args); inputs: none outputs: none error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN notes: Execute a reset on the device as soon as the current IO operation has completed. Executes an ATAPI soft reset if applicable, otherwise executes an ATA soft reset on the controller. HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE execute raw taskfile Note: If you don't have a copy of the ANSI ATA specification handy, you should probably ignore this ioctl. Execute an ATA disk command directly by writing the "taskfile" registers of the drive. Requires ADMIN and RAWIO access privileges. usage: struct { ide_task_request_t req_task; u8 outbuf[OUTPUT_SIZE]; u8 inbuf[INPUT_SIZE]; } task; memset(&task.req_task, 0, sizeof(task.req_task)); task.req_task.out_size = sizeof(task.outbuf); task.req_task.in_size = sizeof(task.inbuf); ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE, &task); ... inputs: (See below for details on memory area passed to ioctl.) io_ports[8] values to be written to taskfile registers hob_ports[8] high-order bytes, for extended commands. out_flags flags indicating which registers are valid in_flags flags indicating which registers should be returned data_phase see below req_cmd command type to be executed out_size size of output buffer outbuf buffer of data to be transmitted to disk inbuf buffer of data to be received from disk (see [1]) outputs: io_ports[] values returned in the taskfile registers hob_ports[] high-order bytes, for extended commands. out_flags flags indicating which registers are valid (see [2]) in_flags flags indicating which registers should be returned outbuf buffer of data to be transmitted to disk (see [1]) inbuf buffer of data to be received from disk error returns: EACCES CAP_SYS_ADMIN or CAP_SYS_RAWIO privilege not set. ENOMSG Device is not a disk drive. ENOMEM Unable to allocate memory for task EFAULT req_cmd == TASKFILE_IN_OUT (not implemented as of 2.6.8) EPERM req_cmd == TASKFILE_MULTI_OUT and drive multi-count not yet set. EIO Drive failed the command. notes: [1] READ THE FOLLOWING NOTES *CAREFULLY*. THIS IOCTL IS FULL OF GOTCHAS. Extreme caution should be used with using this ioctl. A mistake can easily corrupt data or hang the system. [2] Both the input and output buffers are copied from the user and written back to the user, even when not used. [3] If one or more bits are set in out_flags and in_flags is zero, the following values are used for in_flags.all and written back into in_flags on completion. * IDE_TASKFILE_STD_IN_FLAGS | (IDE_HOB_STD_IN_FLAGS << 8) if LBA48 addressing is enabled for the drive * IDE_TASKFILE_STD_IN_FLAGS if CHS/LBA28 The association between in_flags.all and each enable bitfield flips depending on endianess; fortunately, TASKFILE only uses inflags.b.data bit and ignores all other bits. The end result is that, on any endian machines, it has no effect other than modifying in_flags on completion. [4] The default value of SELECT is (0xa0|DEV_bit|LBA_bit) except for four drives per port chipsets. For four drives per port chipsets, it's (0xa0|DEV_bit|LBA_bit) for the first pair and (0x80|DEV_bit|LBA_bit) for the second pair. [5] The argument to the ioctl is a pointer to a region of memory containing a ide_task_request_t structure, followed by an optional buffer of data to be transmitted to the drive, followed by an optional buffer to receive data from the drive. Command is passed to the disk drive via the ide_task_request_t structure, which contains these fields: io_ports[8] values for the taskfile registers hob_ports[8] high-order bytes, for extended commands out_flags flags indicating which entries in the io_ports[] and hob_ports[] arrays contain valid values. Type ide_reg_valid_t. in_flags flags indicating which entries in the io_ports[] and hob_ports[] arrays are expected to contain valid values on return. data_phase See below req_cmd Command type, see below out_size output (user->drive) buffer size, bytes in_size input (drive->user) buffer size, bytes When out_flags is zero, the following registers are loaded. HOB_FEATURE If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_NSECTOR If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_SECTOR If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_LCYL If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_HCYL If the drive supports LBA48 FEATURE NSECTOR SECTOR LCYL HCYL SELECT First, masked with 0xE0 if LBA48, 0xEF otherwise; then, or'ed with the default value of SELECT. If any bit in out_flags is set, the following registers are loaded. HOB_DATA If out_flags.b.data is set. HOB_DATA will travel on DD8-DD15 on little endian machines and on DD0-DD7 on big endian machines. DATA If out_flags.b.data is set. DATA will travel on DD0-DD7 on little endian machines and on DD8-DD15 on big endian machines. HOB_NSECTOR If out_flags.b.nsector_hob is set HOB_SECTOR If out_flags.b.sector_hob is set HOB_LCYL If out_flags.b.lcyl_hob is set HOB_HCYL If out_flags.b.hcyl_hob is set FEATURE If out_flags.b.feature is set NSECTOR If out_flags.b.nsector is set SECTOR If out_flags.b.sector is set LCYL If out_flags.b.lcyl is set HCYL If out_flags.b.hcyl is set SELECT Or'ed with the default value of SELECT and loaded regardless of out_flags.b.select. Taskfile registers are read back from the drive into {io|hob}_ports[] after the command completes iff one of the following conditions is met; otherwise, the original values will be written back, unchanged. 1. The drive fails the command (EIO). 2. One or more than one bits are set in out_flags. 3. The requested data_phase is TASKFILE_NO_DATA. HOB_DATA If in_flags.b.data is set. It will contain DD8-DD15 on little endian machines and DD0-DD7 on big endian machines. DATA If in_flags.b.data is set. It will contain DD0-DD7 on little endian machines and DD8-DD15 on big endian machines. HOB_FEATURE If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_NSECTOR If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_SECTOR If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_LCYL If the drive supports LBA48 HOB_HCYL If the drive supports LBA48 NSECTOR SECTOR LCYL HCYL The data_phase field describes the data transfer to be performed. Value is one of: TASKFILE_IN TASKFILE_MULTI_IN TASKFILE_OUT TASKFILE_MULTI_OUT TASKFILE_IN_OUT TASKFILE_IN_DMA TASKFILE_IN_DMAQ == IN_DMA (queueing not supported) TASKFILE_OUT_DMA TASKFILE_OUT_DMAQ == OUT_DMA (queueing not supported) TASKFILE_P_IN unimplemented TASKFILE_P_IN_DMA unimplemented TASKFILE_P_IN_DMAQ unimplemented TASKFILE_P_OUT unimplemented TASKFILE_P_OUT_DMA unimplemented TASKFILE_P_OUT_DMAQ unimplemented The req_cmd field classifies the command type. It may be one of: IDE_DRIVE_TASK_NO_DATA IDE_DRIVE_TASK_SET_XFER unimplemented IDE_DRIVE_TASK_IN IDE_DRIVE_TASK_OUT unimplemented IDE_DRIVE_TASK_RAW_WRITE [6] Do not access {in|out}_flags->all except for resetting all the bits. Always access individual bit fields. ->all value will flip depending on endianess. For the same reason, do not use IDE_{TASKFILE|HOB}_STD_{OUT|IN}_FLAGS constants defined in hdreg.h. HDIO_DRIVE_CMD execute a special drive command Note: If you don't have a copy of the ANSI ATA specification handy, you should probably ignore this ioctl. usage: u8 args[4+XFER_SIZE]; ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_DRIVE_CMD, args); inputs: Commands other than WIN_SMART args[0] COMMAND args[1] NSECTOR args[2] FEATURE args[3] NSECTOR WIN_SMART args[0] COMMAND args[1] SECTOR args[2] FEATURE args[3] NSECTOR outputs: args[] buffer is filled with register values followed by any data returned by the disk. args[0] status args[1] error args[2] NSECTOR args[3] undefined args[4+] NSECTOR * 512 bytes of data returned by the command. error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_RAWIO ENOMEM Unable to allocate memory for task EIO Drive reports error notes: [1] For commands other than WIN_SMART, args[1] should equal args[3]. SECTOR, LCYL and HCYL are undefined. For WIN_SMART, 0x4f and 0xc2 are loaded into LCYL and HCYL respectively. In both cases SELECT will contain the default value for the drive. Please refer to HDIO_DRIVE_TASKFILE notes for the default value of SELECT. [2] If NSECTOR value is greater than zero and the drive sets DRQ when interrupting for the command, NSECTOR * 512 bytes are read from the device into the area following NSECTOR. In the above example, the area would be args[4..4+XFER_SIZE]. 16bit PIO is used regardless of HDIO_SET_32BIT setting. [3] If COMMAND == WIN_SETFEATURES && FEATURE == SETFEATURES_XFER && NSECTOR >= XFER_SW_DMA_0 && the drive supports any DMA mode, IDE driver will try to tune the transfer mode of the drive accordingly. HDIO_DRIVE_TASK execute task and special drive command Note: If you don't have a copy of the ANSI ATA specification handy, you should probably ignore this ioctl. usage: u8 args[7]; ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_DRIVE_TASK, args); inputs: Taskfile register values: args[0] COMMAND args[1] FEATURE args[2] NSECTOR args[3] SECTOR args[4] LCYL args[5] HCYL args[6] SELECT outputs: Taskfile register values: args[0] status args[1] error args[2] NSECTOR args[3] SECTOR args[4] LCYL args[5] HCYL args[6] SELECT error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_RAWIO ENOMEM Unable to allocate memory for task ENOMSG Device is not a disk drive. EIO Drive failed the command. notes: [1] DEV bit (0x10) of SELECT register is ignored and the appropriate value for the drive is used. All other bits are used unaltered. HDIO_DRIVE_CMD_AEB HDIO_DRIVE_TASK Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1 HDIO_SET_32BIT change io_32bit flags usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_32BIT, val); inputs: New value for io_32bit flag outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 3] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_NOWERR change ignore-write-error flag usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_NOWERR, val); inputs: New value for ignore-write-error flag. Used for ignoring WRERR_STAT outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_DMA change use-dma flag usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_DMA, val); inputs: New value for use-dma flag outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_PIO_MODE reconfig interface to new speed usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_PIO_MODE, val); inputs: New interface speed. outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 255] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SCAN_HWIF register and (re)scan interface usage: int args[3] ... ioctl(fd, HDIO_SCAN_HWIF, args); inputs: args[0] io address to probe args[1] control address to probe args[2] irq number outputs: none error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_RAWIO EIO Probe failed. notes: This ioctl initializes the addresses and irq for a disk controller, probes for drives, and creates /proc/ide interfaces as appropriate. HDIO_UNREGISTER_HWIF unregister interface usage: int index; ioctl(fd, HDIO_UNREGISTER_HWIF, index); inputs: index index of hardware interface to unregister outputs: none error returns: EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_RAWIO notes: This ioctl removes a hardware interface from the kernel. Currently (2.6.8) this ioctl silently fails if any drive on the interface is busy. HDIO_SET_WCACHE change write cache enable-disable usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_WCACHE, val); inputs: New value for write cache enable outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_ACOUSTIC change acoustic behavior usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_ACOUSTIC, val); inputs: New value for drive acoustic settings outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 254] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_QDMA change use-qdma flag Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1 HDIO_SET_ADDRESS change lba addressing modes usage: int val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_ADDRESS, val); inputs: New value for addressing mode 0 = 28-bit 1 = 48-bit 2 = 48-bit doing 28-bit outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 2] EBUSY Controller busy EIO Drive does not support lba48 mode. HDIO_SET_IDE_SCSI usage: long val; ioctl(fd, HDIO_SET_IDE_SCSI, val); inputs: New value for scsi emulation mode (?) outputs: none error return: EINVAL (bdev != bdev->bd_contains) (not sure what this means) EACCES Access denied: requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN EINVAL value out of range [0 1] EBUSY Controller busy HDIO_SET_SCSI_IDE Not implemented, as of 2.6.8.1