how to list USB mass storage devices programatically using libudev in Linux?

Question

I am doing a project with mass storage devices in linux. I am trying to write an application which will list all the connected usb mass storage devices and will give notification when a new mass storage device is plugged in. I am using libudev for this purpose. I have used the code found in "http://www.signal11.us/oss/udev/" . I have done the modification here

  /* Create a list of the devices in the 'block' subsystem. */
  enumerate = udev_enumerate_new(udev);
  udev_enumerate_add_match_subsystem(enumerate, "block");
  udev_enumerate_scan_devices(enumerate);
  devices = udev_enumerate_get_list_entry(enumerate);

The problem now is that it list all the block devices. I want only the usb mass storage devices. How to get this list. One more problem is that how to get the label of usb storage devices using libudev.

Answer 1

One solution is to match devices with the following criteria:

• SUBSYSTEM == "scsi", DEVTYPE == "scsi_device"
• child device exists with SUBSYSTEM == "block"
• child device exists with SUBSYSTEM == "scsi_disk"
• parent device exists with SUBSYSTEM == "usb", DEVTYPE == "usb_device"

Here is example program (also available on github):

#include <libudev.h>
#include <stdio.h>

static struct udev_device*
get_child(
     struct udev* udev, struct udev_device* parent, const char* subsystem)
{
  struct udev_device* child = NULL;
  struct udev_enumerate *enumerate = udev_enumerate_new(udev);

  udev_enumerate_add_match_parent(enumerate, parent);
  udev_enumerate_add_match_subsystem(enumerate, subsystem);
  udev_enumerate_scan_devices(enumerate);

  struct udev_list_entry *devices = udev_enumerate_get_list_entry(enumerate);
  struct udev_list_entry *entry;

  udev_list_entry_foreach(entry, devices) {
    const char *path = udev_list_entry_get_name(entry);
    child = udev_device_new_from_syspath(udev, path);
    break;
  }

  udev_enumerate_unref(enumerate);
  return child;
}

static void enumerate_usb_mass_storage(struct udev* udev)
{
  struct udev_enumerate* enumerate = udev_enumerate_new(udev);

  udev_enumerate_add_match_subsystem(enumerate, "scsi");
  udev_enumerate_add_match_property(enumerate, "DEVTYPE", "scsi_device");
  udev_enumerate_scan_devices(enumerate);

  struct udev_list_entry *devices = udev_enumerate_get_list_entry(enumerate);
  struct udev_list_entry *entry;

  udev_list_entry_foreach(entry, devices) {
    const char* path = udev_list_entry_get_name(entry);
    struct udev_device* scsi = udev_device_new_from_syspath(udev, path);

    struct udev_device* block = get_child(udev, scsi, "block");
    struct udev_device* scsi_disk = get_child(udev, scsi, "scsi_disk");

    struct udev_device* usb
      = udev_device_get_parent_with_subsystem_devtype(
          scsi, "usb", "usb_device");

    if (block && scsi_disk && usb) {
        printf("block = %s, usb = %s:%s, scsi = %s\n",
          udev_device_get_devnode(block),
          udev_device_get_sysattr_value(usb, "idVendor"),
          udev_device_get_sysattr_value(usb, "idProduct"),
          udev_device_get_sysattr_value(scsi, "vendor"));
    }

    if (block)
      udev_device_unref(block);

    if (scsi_disk)
      udev_device_unref(scsi_disk);

    udev_device_unref(scsi);
  }

  udev_enumerate_unref(enumerate);
}

int main()
{
  struct udev* udev = udev_new();

  enumerate_usb_mass_storage(udev);

  udev_unref(udev);
  return 0;
}

And it's output for my external disk:

block = /dev/sdb, usb = 0bc2:ab20, scsi = Seagate