hcidump(1)

📦
version 5.86 · 4 versions
, in fedora 44, nixos 26.05, ubuntu resolute

✨ hcidump — parse HCI data 💙🦋

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for hcidump(1) — section 1, the Linux System Administration corner of the manual, iykyk. If you've got a Bluetooth device yapping away and you wanna actually see what it's saying, this is your girl. Let's get into it.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

hcidump -h

hcidump [OPTIONS ...] [FILTERS]

That's it. Two ways in: ask for help, or dive all the way in. Main character energy either way.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So like — hcidump(1) reads raw HCI data coming from and going to a Bluetooth device, and prints the commands, events and data to your screen in a form that's actually human-readable. Not me being obsessed with a hex dump, but here we are.

Which device, you ask? Well, you can specify it with the option -i, and if you don't, the default is the first available one. Cute.

And here's the fun part: the dump doesn't have to be parsed right away. You can optionally write the dump to a file instead of parsing it, and then parse that dump file in a subsequent moment. Delayed gratification, periodt. 🎀

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -i <hciX> — reads data from hciX, which has got to be the name of an installed Bluetooth device, no exceptions. If you don't specify it, and if the -r option isn't set either, the data gets read from the first available Bluetooth device. 🫶
  • -l <len>, --snap-len=<len> — sets the max length of processed packets to len. Snip snip. ✂️
  • -p <psm>, --psm=<psm> — sets the default Protocol Service Multiplexer to psm.
  • -m <compid>, --manufacturer=<compid> — sets the default company id for manufacturer to compid. Gotta know who made it. 👑
  • -w <file>, --save-dump=<file> — the parse output is not printed to the screen; instead, the data read from the device is saved in file. Then you can come back and parse that saved dump file later with option -r. Save it for later bestie 💾
  • -r <file>, --read-dump=<file> — the data isn't read from a Bluetooth device at all, it's read from file. And file is created with option -t, --timestamp — which prepends a time stamp to every packet. 🕰️
  • -a, --ascii — for every packet, not only is the packet type displayed, but also all the data in ASCII.
  • -x, --hex — for every packet, not only is the packet type displayed, but also all the data in hex.
  • -X, --ext — for every packet, not only is the packet type displayed, but also all the data in hex and ASCII. Why choose one when you can have both 💅
  • -R, --raw — for every packet, only the raw data is displayed. Minimalism. It's giving clean girl aesthetic.
  • -C <psm>, --cmtp=<psm> — sets the PSM value for the CAPI Message Transport Protocol.
  • -H <psm>, --hcrp=<psm> — sets the PSM value for the Hardcopy Control Channel.
  • -O <channel>, --obex=<channel> — sets the RFCOMM channel value for the Object Exchange Protocol.
  • -P <channel>, --ppp=<channel> — sets the RFCOMM channel value for the Point-to-Point Protocol.
  • -D <file>, --pppdump=<file> — extracts PPP traffic with pppdump format. 🍓
  • -A <file>, --audio=<file> — extracts SCO audio data. 🎧
  • -Y, --novendor — don't display any vendor commands or events, and don't show any pin code or link key in plain text. Privacy girlie 🌈
ngl this one matters — the plain-text pin code / link key thing is a real security vibe check, so keep it on when you're sharing dumps with anyone.
  • -h — prints usage info and exits. The classic. The icon. 🙈

🧚 FILTERS 🧚

a filter is a space-separated list of packet categories. The available categories are:

lmp, hci, sco, l2cap, rfcomm, sdp, bnep, cmtp, hidp, hcrp, avdtp, avctp, obex, capi and ppp.

If you use filters, then only the packets belonging to the specified categories get dumped. And by default? All packets are dumped. Everything, everywhere, all at once. 🔥

🔗 RESOURCES 🔗

<http://www.bluez.org>

💀 REPORTING BUGS 💀

<linux-bluetooth@vger.kernel.org>

Found something cursed? Tell the nice people at that address, not me. 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Maxim Krasnyansky <maxk@qualcomm.com>, Marcel Holtmann <marcel@holtmann.org>, Fabrizio Gennari <fabrizio.gennari@philips.com>

Legends, fr fr.

Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public Licenses (LGPL).

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially fluent in hcidump ✨ slay

this has been the BlueZ hcidump(1) manual page, dated Nov 12, 2002 — yes she's vintage, yes she still ate 💅🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from