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+ <title>Petter Reinholdtsen: Modalias strings - a practical way to map "stuff" to hardware</title>
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+ <h1>
+ <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
+
+ </h1>
+
+</div>
+
+
+ <div class="entry">
+ <div class="title">Modalias strings - a practical way to map "stuff" to hardware</div>
+ <div class="date">14th January 2013</div>
+ <div class="body"><p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware
+information, to find the packages that support a given piece of
+hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided
+to document the details. Here are my findings so far, also available
+in
+<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
+Debian Edu subversion repository</a>:
+
+<p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p>
+
+<p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias
+values stands for. It is in part based on information from
+<URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> >,
+<URL: <a href="http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device</a> >,
+<URL: <a href="http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c</a> > and
+<URL: <a href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup</a> >.
+
+<p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using
+this shell script:</p>
+
+<pre>
+cat $(find /sys -name modalias) | sort -u
+</pre>
+
+<p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found
+using modinfo:</p>
+
+<pre>
+% /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias:
+alias: serio:ty05pr*id*ex*
+alias: serio:ty01pr*id*ex*
+%
+</pre>
+
+<p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p>
+
+<p>A typical PCI entry can look like this. This is an Intel Host
+Bridge memory controller:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>This represent these values:</p>
+
+<pre>
+ v 00008086 (vendor)
+ d 00002770 (device)
+ sv 00001028 (subvendor)
+ sd 000001AD (subdevice)
+ bc 06 (bus class)
+ sc 00 (bus subclass)
+ i 00 (interface)
+</pre>
+
+<p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci
+-n' as 8086:2770. The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as
+0600. The 0600 class is a host bridge. Other useful bus values are
+0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p>
+
+<p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it
+means.</p>
+
+<p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p>
+
+<p>Some typical USB entries can look like this. This is an internal
+USB hub in a laptop:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p>
+
+<pre>
+ v 1D6B (device vendor)
+ p 0001 (device product)
+ d 0206 (bcddevice)
+ dc 09 (device class)
+ dsc 00 (device subclass)
+ dp 00 (device protocol)
+ ic 09 (interface class)
+ isc 00 (interface subclass)
+ ip 00 (interface protocol)
+</pre>
+
+<p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub. Some times the relevant
+class is in the interface class section. For a simple USB web camera,
+these alias entries show up:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00
+<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00
+<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00
+<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka
+camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka
+microphone). Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p>
+
+<p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p>
+
+<p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff. This is an IR
+receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p>
+
+<p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p>
+
+<p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case
+and model. This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from
+/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>The values present are</p>
+
+<pre>
+ bvn IBM (BIOS vendor)
+ bvr 1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version)
+ bd 06/15/2005 (BIOS date)
+ svn IBM (system vendor)
+ pn 2371H4G (product name)
+ pvr ThinkPadX40 (product version)
+ rvn IBM (board vendor)
+ rn 2371H4G (board name)
+ rvr NotAvailable (board version)
+ cvn IBM (chassis vendor)
+ ct 10 (chassis type)
+ cvr NotAvailable (chassis version)
+</pre>
+
+<p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook. Other interesting values can be
+found in the dmidecode source:</p>
+
+<pre>
+ 3 Desktop
+ 4 Low Profile Desktop
+ 5 Pizza Box
+ 6 Mini Tower
+ 7 Tower
+ 8 Portable
+ 9 Laptop
+ 10 Notebook
+ 11 Hand Held
+ 12 Docking Station
+ 13 All In One
+ 14 Sub Notebook
+ 15 Space-saving
+ 16 Lunch Box
+ 17 Main Server Chassis
+ 18 Expansion Chassis
+ 19 Sub Chassis
+ 20 Bus Expansion Chassis
+ 21 Peripheral Chassis
+ 22 RAID Chassis
+ 23 Rack Mount Chassis
+ 24 Sealed-case PC
+ 25 Multi-system
+ 26 CompactPCI
+ 27 AdvancedTCA
+ 28 Blade
+ 29 Blade Enclosing
+</pre>
+
+<p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI
+table. For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias
+claim it is a desktop.</p>
+
+<p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p>
+
+<p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs. One example is from my
+test machine:</p>
+
+<p><blockquote>
+serio:ty01pr00id00ex00
+</blockquote></p>
+
+<p>The values present are</p>
+
+<pre>
+ ty 01 (type)
+ pr 00 (prototype)
+ id 00 (id)
+ ex 00 (extra)
+</pre>
+
+<p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver. I am not sure what
+the valid values are.</p>
+
+<p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p>
+
+<p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to
+file2alias.c. There is the rest of the list from that source: amba,
+ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp,
+mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio,
+vmbus, x86cpu and zorro. I did not spend time documenting all of
+these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping
+hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p>
+
+<p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p>
+
+<p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias,
+one can use the following shell script:</p>
+
+<pre>
+ for id in $(cat $(find /sys -name modalias)|sort -u); do \
+ echo "$id" ; \
+ /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/ /' ; \
+ done
+</pre>
+
+<p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the
+list is very long on my test machine):</p>
+
+<pre>
+ acpi:ACPI0003:
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko
+ acpi:device:
+ FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found.
+ acpi:IBM0068:
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko
+ acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511:
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
+ insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko
+ [...]
+</pre>
+
+<p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what
+packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian
+machine, please send me an email or talk to me on
+<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+ <div class="tags">Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.</div>
+
+
+ </div>
+
+
+
+
+ <div id="sidebar">
+
+
+
+<h2>Archive</h2>
+<ul>
+
+<li>2013
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2013/01/">January (5)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>2012
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/05/">May (12)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/06/">June (20)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/07/">July (17)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/08/">August (6)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/09/">September (9)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/10/">October (17)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/11/">November (10)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/12/">December (7)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>2011
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>2010
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>2009
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>2008
+<ul>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
+
+</ul></li>
+
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<h2>Tags</h2>
+<ul>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (5)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (63)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (118)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (9)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/docbook">docbook (7)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/drivstoffpriser">drivstoffpriser (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (169)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (21)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/freeculture">freeculture (10)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/frikanalen">frikanalen (9)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (32)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (17)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (6)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (25)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (219)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (148)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/offentlig innsyn">offentlig innsyn (6)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (41)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (61)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (6)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/scraperwiki">scraperwiki (2)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (28)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/skepsis">skepsis (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (39)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (3)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (5)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (12)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (1)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (7)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (35)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (4)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (26)</a></li>
+
+</ul>
+
+
+ </div>
+ <p style="text-align: right">
+ Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4</a>
+</p>
+
+ </body>
+</html>
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