dfu-util1

Device firmware update (dfu) usb programmer

Usage

dfu-util -l [-v] [-d vid:pid [,vid:pid]] [-p path] [-c configuration] [-i interface] [-a alt-intf] [-S serial [,serial]]

dfu-util [-v] [-d vid:pid [,vid:pid]] [-p path] [-c configuration] [-i interface] [-a alt-intf] [-S serial [,serial]] [-t size] [-Z size] [-w] [-s address] [-R] [{-D | -U file}]

dfu-util [-hV]

Overview

dfu-util is a program that implements the host (computer) side of the USB DFU (Universal Serial Bus Device Firmware Upgrade) protocol.

dfu-util communicates with devices that implement the device side of the USB DFU protocol, and is often used to upgrade the firmware of such devices.

Options

-l, --list: List the currently attached DFU capable USB devices.

-d, --device [Run-Time VENDOR]:[Run-Time PRODUCT][,[DFU Mode VENDOR]:[DFU Mode PRODUCT]]

Specify run-time and/or DFU mode vendor and/or product IDs of the DFU device to work with. VENDOR and PRODUCT are hexadecimal numbers (no prefix needed), "*" (match any), or "-" (match nothing). By default, any DFU capable device in either run-time or DFU mode will be considered.

If you only have one standards-compliant DFU device attached to your computer, this parameter is optional. However, as soon as you have multiple DFU devices connected, dfu-util will detect this and abort, asking you to specify which device to use.

If only run-time IDs are specified (e.g. "--device 1457:51ab"), then in addition to the specified run-time IDs, any DFU mode devices will also be considered. This is beneficial to allow a DFU capable device to be found again after a switch to DFU mode, since the vendor and/or product ID of a device usually changes in DFU mode.

If only DFU mode IDs are specified (e.g. "--device ,951:26"), then all run-time devices will be ignored, making it easy to target a specific device in DFU mode.

If both run-time and DFU mode IDs are specified (e.g. "--device 1457:51ab,:2bc"), then unspecified DFU mode components will use the run-time value specified.

Examples:

--device 1457:51ab,951:26: Work with a device in run-time mode with vendor ID 0x1457 and product ID 0x51ab, or in DFU mode with vendor ID 0x0951 and product ID 0x0026

--device 1457:51ab,:2bc: Work with a device in run-time mode with vendor ID 0x1457 and product ID 0x51ab, or in DFU mode with vendor ID 0x1457 and product ID 0x02bc

--device 1457:51ab: Work with a device in run-time mode with vendor ID 0x1457 and product ID 0x51ab, or in DFU mode with any vendor and product ID

--device ,951:26: Work with a device in DFU mode with vendor ID 0x0951 and product ID 0x0026

--device *,-: Work with any device in run-time mode, and ignore any device in DFU mode

--device ,: Ignore any device in run-time mode, and Work with any device in DFU mode

-p, --path BUS-PORT. ... .PORT: Specify the path to the DFU device.

-c, --cfg CONFIG-NR: Specify the configuration of the DFU device. Note that this is only used for matching, the configuration is not set by dfu-util.

-i, --intf INTF-NR: Specify the DFU interface number.

-a, --alt ALT: Specify the altsetting of the DFU interface by name or by number.

-S, --serial [Run-Time SERIAL][,[DFU Mode SERIAL]]: Specify the run-time and DFU mode serial numbers used to further restrict device matches. If multiple, identical DFU devices are simultaneously connected to a system then vendor and product ID will be insufficient for targeting a single device. In this situation, it may be possible to use this parameter to specify a serial number which also must match.

If only a single serial number is specified, then the same serial number is used in both run-time and DFU mode. An empty serial number will match any serial number in the corresponding mode.

-t, --transfer-size SIZE: Specify the number of bytes per USB transfer. The optimal value is usually determined automatically so this option is rarely useful. If you need to use this option for a device, please report it as a bug.

-Z, --upload-size SIZE: Specify the expected upload size, in bytes. Note that the value is only used for scaling the progress bar, the actual upload size is determined by the device.

-U, --upload FILE: Read firmware from device into FILE.

-D, --download FILE: Write firmware from FILE into device. When FILE is -, the firmware is read from stdin.

-R, --reset: Issue USB reset signalling after upload or download has finished.

-e, --detach: Request that the device re-enumerate out of run-time mode and into DFU mode as when uploading or downloading, but exit immediately after sending the request.

-E, --detach-delay SECONDS: When uploading or downloading, wait SECONDS seconds for the device to re-enumerate after sending the detach request before giving up. Defaults to 5 seconds. This option has no effect with -e, since that causes dfu-util to immediately exit after sending the detach request.

-w, --wait: Wait until matching device appears on the USB bus.

-s, --dfuse-address [ADDRESS][:LENGTH][:MODIFIERS]: Specify target address for raw binary download/upload on DfuSe devices. Do not use this option for downloading DfuSe (.dfu) files. A length can be specified for uploads. Modifiers can be added after the address, separated by a colon, to perform special DfuSE commands such as "leave" DFU mode, "unprotect" and "mass-erase" flash memory. If the device can be expected to reset itself after the operation, "will-reset" should be added. The "force" modifier will override some sanity checks, and is also needed for the "unprotect" and "mass-erase" operations.

-v, --verbose: Print more information about dfu-util's operation. A second -v adds more details. A third -v activates verbose logging of USB requests (libusb debug output).

-h, --help: Show a help text and exit.

-V, --version: Show version information and exit.

Examples

Using dfu-util in the OpenMoko project

(with the Neo1973 hardware)

Flashing the rootfs:
$ dfu-util -a rootfs -R -D /path/to/openmoko-devel-image.jffs2

Flashing the kernel:
$ dfu-util -a kernel -R -D /path/to/uImage

Flashing the bootloader:
$ dfu-util -a u-boot -R -D /path/to/u-boot.bin

Copying a kernel into RAM:
$ dfu-util -a 0 -R -D /path/to/uImage

Once this has finished, the kernel will be available at the default load address of 0x32000000 in Neo1973 RAM. Note: You cannot transfer more than 2MB of data into RAM using this method.

Using dfu-util with a DfuSe device

Flashing a .dfu (special DfuSe format) file to the device:
$ dfu-util -D /path/to/dfuse-image.dfu

Reading out 1 KB of flash starting at address 0x8000000:
$ dfu-util -a 0 -s 0x08000000:1024 -U newfile.bin

Flashing a binary file to address 0x8004000 of device memory and ask the device to leave DFU mode:
$ dfu-util -a 0 -s 0x08004000:leave -D /path/to/image.bin

Licence

dfu-util is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2 or later.

Releases

10 releases since Debian 5.0 (Lenny); the text changed 5 times.

- since Debian 8 (Jessie); --detach since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --detach-delay since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --dfuse-address since Debian 7 (Wheezy); --upload-size since Debian 8 (Jessie); --verbose since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); --wait since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -E since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -Z since Debian 8 (Jessie); -e since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -s since Debian 7 (Wheezy); -v since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); -w since Debian 12 (Bookworm).

-d until Debian 7 (Wheezy).