nvmsplit(1)

✨ nvmsplit ✨ — the manual page, but make it a group chat

okay so bestie, you're looking at nvmsplit(1), which is a lil tool from the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit 💖. Section 1, like all the cool kids. Let's get into it.

🌸 NAME 🌸

nvmsplit — Qualcomm Atheros PLC Firmware Image File Slicer. Yeah, "slicer." It slices. It dices. It does not, however, blend. 🍓

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nvmsplit [options] file [file] [...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

Okay so here's the tea ☕: nvmsplit extracts all the images out of an Atheros binary image file, and it leaves your original files completely intact. No touching. We don't do that here. 🫶

The extracted images land in files that use the input file's basename plus sequence numbers — and those numbers tell you where each image sat relative to the others inside the original file. So for example, an image file like abc.nvm might give you abc-00.nvm, abc-01.nvm, abc-02.nvm, and so on. ✨

Every single output file is a valid, single-image file all on its own, which means you can glue them back together later using nvmmerge. Undo button, but make it a program. 😌

Now for the lore 🧚: Atheros image files are basically a chain of image headers, and each header is followed by an image block. Those image blocks can hold data, applets, or programs. Atheros software walks that header chain and decides which images to download and run based on what the image headers say. It's giving "the headers are the main characters." 👑

⚠️ fr fr though: tampering with image headers or images may void some contractual obligations made by Atheros. Do not be the girl who voids the contract. 💀

This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. Peep the AMP man page for an overview and installation instructions. iykyk 🌈

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -q — Suppress routine messages. ngl, this option has no effect at this time. It's there. It's vibing. It does nothing. 🙈
• -v — Print component file names on stderr as they are created. Narrator mode. 🔥
• -?, --help — Print the program help summary on stdout. This option takes precedence over other options on the command line. It said "my turn." 👑
• -!, --version — Print program version information on stdout. This one also takes precedence over other options on the command line. Use this when you're sending screen dumps to Atheros Technical Support so they know exactly which version of the Linux Toolkit you're running. Receipts matter, bestie 🧾💅

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• file — The name of an Atheros image file. By convention, Atheros Image files have a .nvm file extension, but this program does not enforce that convention. It's not the extension police. 🚓✨

😭 Heads up: invalid image files will be rejected, which causes the output to be incomplete. So like, double-check your input, okay?

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

This example reads the Atheros image file abc.nvm and creates one or more output files. Each file contains one image with its associated header:

# nvmsplit abc.nvm -v
nvmsplit: abc.nvm --> abc-00.nvm
nvmsplit: abc.nvm --> abc-01.nvm
nvmsplit: abc.nvm --> abc-02.nvm
nvmsplit: abc.nvm --> abc-03.nvm

the way that -v just tells you everything it's doing… we love a transparent icon 💖

🌈 DISCLAIMER 🌈

Atheros image 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 file structure or content in future firmware releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of this program. So like… they can just do that. 😭

This program is reserved for use by Atheros Field Engineers. And use of this program may void some contractual obligations made by Atheros. Not a drill. 🫶

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• chknvm(1)
• int6k(1)
• int6kf(1)
• int6ktest(1)
• nvmmerge(1)
• setnvm(1)

the whole friend group 💅

👑 CREDITS 👑

Charles Maier — legend behavior, no cap. 🫡

and that's the page, bestie 💖 this was nvmsplit from open-plc-utils-0.0.3, dated November 2013 — vintage, iconic, and still serving. mwah 🎀✨