Basic Packages for Linux® From Scratch - Version 2018-09-21

Chapter 4. Administration Tools

usbutils-010

Introduction to USB Utils

The USB Utils package contains utilities used to display information about USB buses in the system and the devices connected to them.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.3 platform.

Package Information

USB Utils Dependencies

Required

libusb-1.0.22

Required Runtime

Python-2.7.15

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/usbutils

Installation of USB Utils

Install USB Utils by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr --datadir=/usr/share/hwdata &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

To install the usb.ids data file, using Wget-1.19.5, run, as the root user: 

install -dm755 /usr/share/hwdata/ &&
wget http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids -O /usr/share/hwdata/usb.ids

The script lsusb.py displays information in a more easily readable form than lsusb. To find the options, use lsusb.py -h. One form of use recommended by the developer is lsusb.py -ciu.

Configuring USB Utils

The usb.ids data file is constantly being updated. For System V based systems, get a current version of this file, using Wget-1.19.5, periodically run, as the root user: 

wget http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids -O /usr/share/hwdata/usb.ids

You may wish to add an entry to root's (or any other user who has write privilege to /usr/share/hwdata) crontab to automatically update the usb.ids file periodically.

For systemd based systems, execute the following commands, as the root user, to create a systemd timer to update it weekly on Sundays at 3:00 A.M. (local time): 

cat > /lib/systemd/system/update-usbids.service << "EOF" &&
[Unit]
Description=Update usb.ids file
Documentation=man:lusub(8)
DefaultDependencies=no
After=local-fs.target
Before=shutdown.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/usr/bin/wget http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids -O /usr/share/hwdata/usb.ids
EOF
cat > /lib/systemd/system/update-usbids.timer << "EOF" &&
[Unit]
Description=Update usb.ids file weekly

[Timer]
OnCalendar=Sun 03:00:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
EOF
systemctl enable update-usbids.timer

Contents

Installed Programs: lsusb, lsusb.py, usb-devices, and usbhid-dump
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: None

Short Descriptions

lsusb

is a utility for displaying information about all USB buses in the system and all devices connected to them, but not in human friendly form.

lsusb.py

displays information about all USB buses in the system and all devices connected to them in reasonable human friendly form.

usb-devices

is a shell script that displays details of USB buses and devices connected to them. It is designed to be used if /proc/bus/usb/devices is not available on your system.

usbhid-dump

is used to dump report descriptors and streams from HID (human interface device) interfaces of USB devices.

Last updated on 2018-09-22 16:32:07 -0700