chkpib(1)

📦
version 0.0.6+git20250712.46c3506 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ chkpib(1) — Qualcomm Atheros PLC Parameter File Inspector ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this little icon is chkpib from section 1 of the manual, and she is literally the vibe-checker for Qualcomm Atheros powerline parameter files 💅

🎀 NAME 🎀

chkpib — Qualcomm Atheros PLC Parameter File Inspector

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

chkpib [options] file [file] [...]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So the Qualcomm Atheros Parameter File Validator does exactly one job and she does it flawlessly: she looks at Qualcomm Atheros powerline parameter files and hunts for the obvious red flags — obsolete format, wrong file size, bad checksums, read errors, the whole situationship 💀. That's it. She makes no attempt to check any internal information other than file length and checksum. She's not nosy like that, she just checks the vibes at the door.

This program handles both the older Thunderbolt and Lightning formats and the newer Panther and Lynx parameter file formats — so yes, she's bi-formatual, we love that for her 🫶. She validates files directly from disk, which means she's slower than her sister program chkpib2, but she needs less memory at runtime. Trade-offs, bestie, trade-offs. Pick your queen based on your RAM budget ✨.

This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. Go read the AMP man page for an overview and installation instructions, iykyk 👑

💖 OPTIONS 💖

  • -m — Display manifest content, if present. A manifest is a special module, included in some image chains, that contains useful information about the chain. Heads up: this option suppresses the summary looks good message. So no gold star for you, but you do get the receipts 📜.
  • -q — Suppresses printing of progress messages. Quiet queen behavior, no cap 🤫.
  • -v — Print additional information such as the PIB header for each file. This info can be used to confirm pib version and to tell one PIB file apart from another. Very "let me get a good look at you" energy 👀.
  • -?, --help — Print program help summary on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line. She's the main character, she goes first 💅.
  • -!, --version — Print program version information on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line. Use this option when sending screen dumps to Atheros Technical Support so that they know exactly which version of the Linux Toolkit you are using. Fr fr, do it, they will literally need it 🔥.

🌈 ARGUMENTS 🌈

  • file — The name of a runtime parameter file. By convention, runtime parameter files have a .pib extention but this program does not enforce that convention. (Yes, "extention." She said what she said. We don't correct icons 🎀.) Live your truth, name your files whatever, she's not gonna police you.

💀 DISCLAIMER 💀

Qualcomm Atheros parameter file structure and content is proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros, Ocala FL USA. Consequently, public information is not available. Qualcomm Atheros reserves the right to change parameter file structure or content, or change the name or behavior of any program that inspects or changes parameter files, in future software releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of such programs. So yeah — they can ghost you and change everything and owe you nothing. Not me getting abandoned-by-corporate energy 😭. Anyway.

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

example one — the solo file

The next example reads file abc.pib and validates it. The message shown indicates that the PIB version is recent, the file is the correct size, the checksum is valid computes and there are no read errors.

# chkpib abc.pib
abc.pib looks good

She ate and left no crumbs 🍓

example two — the group chat

The next example reads three files and reports on each one. You can suppress good news with the -q option. Remember that "looking good" does not mean "is good". (Read that again, bestie. Twice. She is being so honest with you right now 🙈.)

# chkpib INT6400.pib AR7400.pib AR7420.pib
INT6400.pib looks good
AR7400.pib looks good
AR7420.pib looks good

example three — the deep dive with -v

The next example reads three files and displays selected information about each one because option -v is present. Of course, program output could be piped to a file and used for documentation purposes.

# chkpib -v INT6400.pib AR7400.pib AR7420.pib
------- INT6400.pib -------
        PIB 4-2 10888 bytes
        MAC 00:B0:52:BA:BE:00
        DAK 68:9F:07:4B:8B:02:75:A2:71:0B:0B:57:79:AD:16:30
(HomePlugAV)
        NMK 50:D3:E4:93:3F:85:5B:70:40:78:4D:F8:15:AA:8D:B7
(HomePlugAV)
        NID B0:F2:E6:95:66:6B:03
        NET Intellon Enabled Network
        MFG Intellon HomePlug AV Device
        USR Intellon Enabled Product
        CCo Auto
        MDU N/A
------- AR7400.pib -------
        PIB 7-1 16352 bytes
        MAC 00:B0:52:00:00:08
        DAK F0:84:B4:E8:F6:06:9F:F1:30:0C:9B:DB:81:23:67:FF
(HomePlugAV0123)
        NMK 50:D3:E4:93:3F:85:5B:70:40:78:4D:F8:15:AA:8D:B7
(HomePlugAV)
        NID B0:F2:E6:95:66:6B:03
        NET Atheros Enabled Network
        MFG Atheros HomePlug AV Device
        USR Intergalactic Software Pirates
        CCo Never
        MDU Slave
------- AR7420.pib -------
        PIB 0-2 10904 bytes
        MAC 00:B0:52:00:00:01
        DAK 68:9F:07:4B:8B:02:75:A2:71:0B:0B:57:79:AD:16:30
(HomePlugAV)
        NMK 50:D3:E4:93:3F:85:5B:70:40:78:4D:F8:15:AA:8D:B7
(HomePlugAV)
        NID B0:F2:E6:95:66:6B:03
        NET Atheros Enabled Network
        MFG Atheros HomePlug AV Device
        USR Atheros Enabled Product
        CCo Auto
        MDU N/A

not "Intergalactic Software Pirates" as a USR field 😭 iconic, no notes 👑

example four — the manifest moment with -m

This example prints the manifest found inside newer parameter files. This can be used to distinguish parameter files from firmware files, determine exact firmware or parameter file revisions and so forth. Observe that we specified several files on the command line but only one file, AR7420.pib, contained a manifest.

# chkpib -m INT6400.pib AR7400.pib AR7420.pib
------- AR7420.pib (0) -------
        Signature: 1234ABCD
        Hardware Compatibility: AR74200
        Chain Major Version: 0
        Chain Minor Version: 1
        Chain Type: Parameter Block
        Build Major Version: 0
        Build Minor Version: 0
        Build Type: Special
        Manifest Version: 1
        Build Number: 0
        Build Date: 20110811
        Build Time: 203853
        Device Type: 29728
        Build Hostname: TOR-SW-SIM04
        Build Username: buildbot
        Build Description: Custom
        Build Version String:
AR-7420-FW-0_0-0_2-20110811:203853-buildbot:TOR-SW-SIM04-1-0_1

look at all that metadata, she's giving full government name 🫶

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

chkpib2(7), getpib(7), modpib(1), pib2xml(1), pibcomp(1), pibdump(1), setpib(1), xml2pib(1)

go read the whole friend group, they're all slay 💜

🌸 CREDITS 🌸

  • Charles Maier
  • Nathaniel Houghton

and that's the whole page, bestie — brought to you by open-plc-utils-0.0.3, dated November 2013, and yes, this is chkpib(1) signing off 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶😭🔥👑🌈⭐💀🙈🍓🧚💜

📦 where this page comes from