'\" te
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.TH SMBIOS 4D "Aug 26, 2005"
.SH NAME
smbios \- System Management BIOS image
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
\fB/dev/smbios\fR
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
The \fBsmbios\fR device is a character special file that provides access to a
snapshot of the System Management BIOS (\fBSMBIOS\fR) image exported by the
current system. \fBSMBIOS\fR is an industry-standard mechanism that enables
low-level system software to export hardware configuration information to
higher-level system management software. The \fBSMBIOS\fR data format is
defined by the Distributed Management Task Force (\fBDMTF\fR). For more
information on \fBSMBIOS\fR and to obtain a copy of the \fBSMBIOS\fR
specification and implementation guidelines, refer to
http://\fIwww.dmtf.org\fR.
.sp
.LP
The \fBSMBIOS\fR image consists of a table of structures, each describing some
aspect of the system software or hardware configuration. The content of the
image varies widely by platform and BIOS vendor and may not exist on some
systems. You can use the \fBsmbios\fR(8) utility to inspect the contents of
the \fBSMBIOS\fR image and copy it to a file.
.SH ATTRIBUTES
.sp
.LP
See \fBattributes\fR(7) for a description of the following attributes:
.sp

.sp
.TS
box;
c | c
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
Interface Stability	Stable
.TE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
.BR attributes (7),
.BR prtdiag (8),
.BR smbios (8)
.sp
.LP
\fISystem Management BIOS Reference Specification\fR, Version 2, Release 4 \(em
2005
.SH NOTES
.sp
.LP
The implementation of a System Management BIOS image is entirely at the
discretion of the system and BIOS vendors. Not all systems export a
\fBSMBIOS\fR. The \fBSMBIOS\fR structure content varies widely between systems
and BIOS vendors and frequently does not comply with the guidelines included in
the specification. For example, some structure fields may not be filled in by
the BIOS, while others may be filled in with non-conforming values.