IPMCTL-START-SESSION(1)

💅 IPMCTL-START-SESSION(1) — the ipmctl manual, bestie edition ✨

okay so this is the ipmctl-start-session page, and it's literally about starting a recording or a playback session. yes, like a little movie of your platform's vibes. let's get into it 🎀

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

ipmctl-start-session — starts a recording or playback session. periodt.

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ipmctl start [OPTIONS] -session -mode (record|playback|playback_manual) [TARGETS]

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So basically, this command starts a recording or playback session. Not me about to explain the whole lore, but here we go 💖

A recording session records the platform's ACPI NFIT, PCAT, PMTT tables, SMBIOS tables, and FIS mailbox transactions that happen during the recording session. That's a whole lot of tables, and she's collecting all of them.

The normal use-case, iykyk, goes like this:

1. start a recording session
2. execute commands (e.g., create -goal, show -sensors, etc.) to be recorded
3. dump the recorded session using the [Dump Session] command
4. stop the session using the [Stop Session] command

Then that "dumped" session can be loaded and "played" back on any platform that can execute the ipmctl tool. cross-platform queen behavior honestly 👑

The playback session has two modes: playback and playback_manual.

• playback mode will automatically execute all commands that were previously recorded. she's independent, she doesn't need you.
• playback_manual mode allows commands to be executed one at a time in a manual fashion. you're driving, bestie 🚗

If a tag is given, the playback will begin at the command that corresponds with the tagID.

ngl, the [Show Session] command displays the order and commands to execute, where the * denotes which command to execute next. so if you're lost, look for the asterisk. she's the main character.

---

💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -f, -force — do not warn the user that starting a new session terminates an active recording session, which results in deleting recorded content. like, you're skipping the warning and the deletion is just gonna happen. rude but okay 🫶
• -h, -help — displays help for the command. classic.
• -ddrt — used to specify DDRT as the desired transport protocol for the current invocation of ipmctl.
• -smbus — used to specify SMBUS as the desired transport protocol for the current invocation of ipmctl.

Note ⚠️ The -ddrt and -smbus options are mutually exclusive and may not be used together. pick a lane, babe. not both. fr fr.

---

🎀 TARGET 🎀

• -session — specifies to start a session. that's the whole assignment.
• -mode (record|playback|playback_manual) — the session modes supported. one of:
  • "record" — records data associated with command execution
  • "playback" — automatically executes commands previously recorded
  • "playback_manual" — enables manual execution of commands previously recorded
• -tag [tagID] — specifies the starting command by tagID. only available with "playback" and "playback_manual" mode. so don't try it with record, she's not available for that.

---

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Start a recording session. 🎥

ipmctl start -session -mode record

Automatically execute commands in a session. 🤖

ipmctl start -session -mode playback

Allow for manual execution of commands in playback mode ✋

ipmctl start -session -mode playback_manual

---

💀 LIMITATIONS 💀

• Recordings should be played back on the same IPMCTL version that created the recording. version mismatch? no ma'am, don't do it.
• Recordings taken in UEFI should be played back in the UEFI environment (simulated or real). home is home.
• Recordings taken in an OS are binary compatible with other OS versions of IPMCTL (i.e., recording taken in Linux* can be played back in Windows*). we love an OS-agnostic icon 🌍

---

⭐ RETURN DATA ⭐

In playback mode the output will be a concatenation of the output from each played back command. so it's giving... everything all at once. just stack it up 💖

---

and that's the whole page, bestie!! you ate this. now go start a session responsibly 🫶✨

this was ipmctl (the source, the icon, the moment), dated 2024-04-22. mwah 💋