VPDDECODE(8) System Manager's Manual 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 identified 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 corresponds 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 contents 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
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