VPDDECODE(8)                                       VPDDECODE(8)



NAME
       vpddecode - VPD structure decoder

SYNOPSIS
       vpddecode [OPTIONS]


DESCRIPTION
       vpddecode  prints  the  "vital product data" information
       that can be found in almost all IBM and  Lenovo  comput-
       ers. Available items are:

        BIOS Build ID

        Box Serial Number

        Motherboard Serial Number

        Machine Type/Model


       Some systems have these additional items:

        BIOS Release Date

        Default Flash Image File Name


       Note  that  these additional items are not documented by
       IBM, so this is guess work, and as such  should  not  be
       blindly  trusted.  Feedback  about the accuracy of these
       labels is welcome.


OPTIONS
       -d, --dev-mem FILE
              Read memory from device FILE (default: /dev/mem)

       -s, --string KEYWORD
              Only display the value of the VPD string  identi-
              fied  by KEYWORD.  KEYWORD must be a keyword from
              the following  list:  bios-build-id,  box-serial-
              number,  motherboard-serial-number, machine-type-
              model, bios-release-date.   Each  keyword  corre-
              sponds  to  an offset and a length within the VPD
              record.  Not all strings may be  defined  on  all
              VPD-enabled  systems.  If KEYWORD is not provided
              or not valid, a list of  all  valid  keywords  is
              printed  and vpddecode exits with an error.  This
              option cannot be used more than  once.   Mutually
              exclusive with --dump.

       -u, --dump
              Do  not  decode  the VPD records, dump their con-
              tents as hexadecimal instead.  Note that this  is
              still  a  text  output,  no  binary  data will be
              thrown upon you. ASCII  equivalent  is  displayed
              when  possible.  This option is mainly useful for
              debugging.  Mutually exclusive with --string.

       -h, --help
              Display usage information and exit

       -V, --version
              Display the version and exit


FILES
       /dev/mem

AUTHOR
       Jean Delvare

SEE ALSO
       biosdecode(8), dmidecode(8), mem(4), ownership(8)



dmidecode                February 2007             VPDDECODE(8)
