intel_reg_dumper

intel_reg_dumper [--device DEVICE] [--dump FILE] [--format FORMAT] [--range START:END] [-h | --help] [--version]

--device, -d
    Specify debugfs device path (e.g., /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0), defaults to first Intel GPU

--dump, -D
    Write register dump to specified file instead of stdout

--format
    Output format: txt (default), csv, or tsv

--range
    Dump only registers in hexadecimal address range (e.g., 0x1234:0x5678)

--csv
    Shortcut for --format csv

--tsv
    Shortcut for --format tsv

-h, --help
    Display usage help and exit

--version
    Print version information and exit

The intel_reg_dumper command is a diagnostic utility from the intel-gpu-tools package, designed to extract and display the current state of hardware registers on Intel Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). It interfaces with the Linux kernel's i915 driver via the debugfs filesystem, typically under /sys/kernel/debug/dri/<device>/i915_<device>_registers. This tool is invaluable for developers and users troubleshooting graphics driver issues, performance problems, or hardware faults on Intel integrated or discrete GPUs.

It supports dumping all registers or specific address ranges, with output formats like plain text, CSV, or TSV for easy analysis or scripting. Registers are read directly from the GPU's MMIO (Memory-Mapped I/O) space, providing raw hexadecimal values alongside symbolic names where available. Usage requires appropriate permissions, often root access, and a mounted debugfs. The tool identifies available Intel GPU devices automatically but allows manual specification.

Common use cases include reverse-engineering register behavior, verifying driver state during crashes, or logging for bug reports to the Intel graphics community. Output can be redirected to files for post-processing with tools like grep or spreadsheets.

Requires root privileges or CAP_SYS_ADMIN for debugfs access; only works with Intel i915 driver; debugfs must be mounted at /sys/kernel/debug; large dumps may consume significant memory or time on high-end GPUs.

Install via package manager: apt install intel-gpu-tools (Debian/Ubuntu) or yum install intel-gpu-tools (RHEL/Fedora); source from git at git://anongit.freedesktop.org/mesa/intel-gpu-tools

Run as root or add user to video group and enable debugfs with echo 1 > /sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc_rc6 etc. for non-root access in some cases.

Developed by Intel engineers as part of the open-source intel-gpu-tools suite starting around 2010, alongside the Linux i915 DRM driver. Evolved with GPU generations (Sandy Bridge onward), with active maintenance in Mesa/Intel graphics repositories for debugging modern Arc and Xe architectures.

intel_gpu_top(1), drm_info(1), intel_reg(1), modetest(1)