---
name: "sane-ibm"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "sane"
version: "1.4.0-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sane-ibm"
---

# sane-ibm(5)

SANE backend for IBM and Ricoh SCSI flatbed scanners

## NAME

sane-ibm - SANE backend for IBM and Ricoh SCSI flatbed scanners

## DESCRIPTION

The **sane-ibm** library implements a SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) backend that provides access to the IBM 2456 and the Ricoh IS-410, IS-420, and IS-430 flatbed scanners. Support for the IS-410 and IS-430 is untested. Please contact the maintainer or the sane-devel mailing list if you own such a scanner.

This backend is alpha-quality. It may have bugs and some scanners haven't been tested at all. Be careful and pull the plug if the scanner causes unusual noise.

## DEVICE NAMES

This backend expects device names of the form:

*special*

Where *special* is the path-name for the special device that corresponds to a SCSI scanner. The program [**sane-find-scanner**(1)](/sane-find-scanner/1.md) helps to find out the correct device. Under Linux, such a device name could be */dev/sg0* or */dev/sga*, for example.  See [**sane-scsi**(5)](/sane-scsi/5.md) for details.

## CONFIGURATION

The contents of the *ibm.conf* file is a list of device names that correspond to SCSI scanners.  Empty lines and lines starting with a hash mark (#) are ignored.  See [**sane-scsi**(5)](/sane-scsi/5.md) on details of what constitutes a valid device name.

## FILES

- */etc/sane.d/ibm.conf*

  The backend configuration file (see also description of **SANE\_CONFIG\_DIR** below).

- */usr/lib/sane/libsane-ibm.a*

  The static library implementing this backend.

- */usr/lib/sane/libsane-ibm.so*

  The shared library implementing this backend (present on systems that support dynamic loading).

## ENVIRONMENT

- **SANE\_CONFIG\_DIR**

  This environment variable specifies the list of directories that may contain the configuration file.  On \*NIX systems, the directories are separated by a colon (\`:'), under OS/2, they are separated by a semi-colon (\`;').  If this variable is not set, the configuration file is searched in two default directories: first, the current working directory (".") and then in */etc/sane.d*. If the value of the environment variable ends with the directory separator character, then the default directories are searched after the explicitly specified directories.  For example, setting **SANE\_CONFIG\_DIR** to "/tmp/config:" would result in directories *tmp/config*, *.*, and */etc/sane.d* being searched (in this order).

- **SANE\_DEBUG\_IBM**

  If the library was compiled with debug support enabled, this environment variable controls the debug level for this backend.  Higher debug levels increase the verbosity of the output.

## SEE ALSO

[**sane**(7)](/sane/7.md), [**sane-find-scanner**(1)](/sane-find-scanner/1.md), [**sane-scsi**(5)](/sane-scsi/5.md),

## AUTHOR

mf \<*massifr@tiscalinet.it*\>\
 Maintained by Henning Meier-Geinitz \<*henning@meier-geinitz.de*\>