Bug 711623 - wodim man page falsely claims dvd+r support
Summary: wodim man page falsely claims dvd+r support
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED RAWHIDE
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: cdrkit
Version: 15
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Honza Horak
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-06-07 23:53 UTC by Matt Hirsch
Modified: 2011-12-07 12:03 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-12-07 12:03:58 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
man page patch (2.33 KB, patch)
2011-06-08 12:29 UTC, Honza Horak
no flags Details | Diff
man page patch (2.66 KB, patch)
2011-06-08 12:54 UTC, Honza Horak
no flags Details | Diff

Description Matt Hirsch 2011-06-07 23:53:15 UTC
Description of problem:

$ wodim driver=mmc_dvdplus
Illegal driver type 'mmc_dvdplus'.
Driver types:
mmc_cd_dvd          generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD/DVD driver (checks media)
mmc_cdr             generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD-R/CD-RW driver
mmc_mdvd            generic SCSI-3/mmc DVD-R(W) driver
mmc_cdr_sony        generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD-R/CD-RW driver (Sony 928 variant)
mmc_cd              generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD-ROM driver
scsi2_cd            generic SCSI-2       CD-ROM driver
philips_cdd521_old  driver for Philips old CDD-521
philips_dumb        driver for Philips CDD-521 with pessimistic assumptions
philips_cdd521      driver for Philips CDD-521
philips_cdd522      driver for Philips CDD-522
tyuden_ew50         driver for Taiyo Yuden EW-50
kodak_pcd_600       driver for Kodak PCD-600
pioneer_dws114x     driver for Pioneer DW-S114X
plasmon_rf4100      driver for Plasmon RF 4100
yamaha_cdr100       driver for Yamaha CDR-100 / CDR-102
ricoh_ro1060c       driver for Ricoh RO-1060C
ricoh_ro1420c       driver for Ricoh RO-1420C
sony_cdu924         driver for Sony CDU-924 / CDU-948
teac_cdr50          driver for Teac CD-R50S, Teac CD-R55S, JVC XR-W2010, Pinnacle RCD-5020
cw_7501             driver for Matsushita/Panasonic CW-7501
cdr_simul           simulation CD-R driver for timing/speed tests
dvd_simul           simulation DVD-R driver for timing/speed tests

Yet, in the man page:

              mmc_dvdplus
                     The generic  SCSI-3/mmc-3  DVD+R/DVD+RW  driver  is  auto-
                     selected  whenever  one  of  the DVD+ media types that are
                     incompatible to each other is found.  It checks media  and
                     then  branches  to  the  driver  that  matches the current
                     medium.

              mmc_dvdplusr
                     The generic SCSI-3/mmc-3  DVD+R  driver  is  auto-selected
                     whenever a DVD+R medium is found in an appropriate writer.
                     Note that for unknown reason, the DVD-Plus  alliance  does
                     not  like that there is a simulation mode for DVD+R media.
                     The author of wodim tries  to  convince  manufacturers  to
                     implement  a  simulation mode for DVD+R and implement sup‐
                     port.  DVD+R only supports one write mode  that  is  some‐
                     where  between Track At Once and Packet writing; this mode
                     is selected in wodim via a the -dao/-sao option.

              mmc_dvdplusrw
                     The generic SCSI-3/mmc-3 DVD+RW  driver  is  auto-selected
                     whenever  a  DVD+RW  medium  is  found  in  an appropriate
                     writer.  As DVD+RW media needs to be formatted before  its
                     first  use,  wodim  auto-detects this media state and per‐
                     forms a format before it starts to write.  Note  that  for
                     unknown  reason,  the DVD-Plus alliance does not like that
                     there is a simulation mode  nor  a  way  to  erase  DVD+RW
                     media.   DVD+RW only supports one write mode that is close
                     to Packet writing; this mode is selected in  wodim  via  a
                     the -dao/-sao option.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

wodim-1.1.11-5.fc15.x86_64


Additional info:

I am aware of the various issues between cdrkit and cdrtools. The man page should have accurate information, though.

A very annoying effect is that DVD+R media are not recognized as such (in my experience). Wodim tries to use mmc_mdvd (not in the man page??) and ruins the disk with something like this:


Detected DVD-R drive: /dev/dvdrw
Using /dev/cdrom of unknown capabilities
Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 5
Response Format: 2
Capabilities   : 
Vendor_info    : 'HL-DT-ST'
Identification : 'DVDRAM GSA-T20N '
Revision       : 'WP03'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc DVD-R(W) driver (mmc_mdvd).
Driver flags   : SWABAUDIO BURNFREE 
Supported modes: PACKET SAO
Speed set to 8310 KB/s
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed   6.0 in real unknown mode for single session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write in    0 seconds. Operation starts.
Errno: 5 (Input/output error), reserve track scsi sendcmd: no error
CDB:  53 00 00 00 00 00 17 41 3F 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: 72 0B 00 00 00 00 00 0E 09 0C 00 00 00 02 00 00
Sense Key: 0x0 No Additional Sense, Segment 11
Sense Code: 0x00 Qual 0x02 (end-of-partition/medium detected) Fru 0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid) 
cmd finished after 50.642s timeout 40s
wodim: Cannot open new session.

Comment 1 Honza Horak 2011-06-08 12:29:09 UTC
Created attachment 503672 [details]
man page patch

Matthew, thanks for the point. 

Actually, wodim does support DVD+R as well as DVD-R and DVD+RW. If it detects one of these media it chooses mmc_mdvd driver, which is a general driver for all of these media. This driver was described in wodim's man pages, but falsely under mmc_dvd label. The other mentioned drivers from man pages really don't exist in wodim's code, but their function is covered by mmc_mdvd.

So I've shortened and fixed the description of the four drivers (mmc_dvd, mmc_dvdplus, mmc_dvdplusr and mmc_dvdplusrw) into one item mmc_mdvd with the following text:

> The generic SCSI-3/mmc-2 DVD-R/DVD-RW driver is auto-selected 
> whenever wodim finds a MMC-2 or MMC-3 compliant drive that 
> supports to write DVDs and an appropriate medium is loaded. 
> Note that for unknown reason, the DVD-Plus alliance does not 
> like that there is a simulation mode for DVD+R and DVD+RW media 
> nor a way to erase DVD+RW media. DVD+R and DVD+RW only supports 
> one write mode that is somewhere between Track At Once and 
> Packet writing; this mode is selected in wodim via a the -dao/
> -sao option. As DVD+RW media needs to be formatted before its 
> first use, wodim auto-detects this media state and performs a 
> format before it starts to write.

The patch will be applied soon with some other changes.


Now a few words generally about DVD support in wodim. As I've said previously, it is implemented and it works. But not every-time ;) There are some problems witch lead to SCSI errors and make many users unhappy. Some of them can be avoided by running wodim under root, but sometimes even this is not enough. That's not very nice, but not easy to fix at the same time.

The best solution when you have problems with burning DVDs in Fedora using wodim is to switch to growisofs, which is a part of dvd+rw-tools package and it is included in Fedora too. This is also a way how k3b solves this issue (it uses wodim for burning CD and growisofs for DVD).

Maybe you are already aware of growisofs, but I wanted to mention it for anybody else who has problems with burning DVDs using wodim.

Comment 2 Honza Horak 2011-06-08 12:54:36 UTC
Created attachment 503676 [details]
man page patch

I've added a little notice about using growisofs when user has problems with burning DVDs using wodim.

Comment 3 Matt Hirsch 2011-06-08 20:26:52 UTC
Thanks

Comment 4 Honza Horak 2011-12-07 12:03:58 UTC
The man page fix has been committed to Rawhide.


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