Debian bug report logs - #746, boring messages

Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com:

Subject: Bug#746: mt doesn't support setblk (and other options)
Reply-To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson), debian-bugs@pixar.com
Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com
Resent-From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Resent-Date: Tue, 04 Apr 1995 20:03:06 GMT
Resent-Message-ID: <debian-bugs-handler.746.040419545716345@pixar.com>
Message-Id: <m0rvz4k-0000YSZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 04:14 BST
From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: Debian bugs submission address <debian-bugs@pixar.com>

Package: cpio
Version: 2.3-2

Here is an edited unidiff between the manpage for setblk on my old
installation and that from Debian 0.93R5 (+ indicates an option or
meaning that's in Debian, - indicates an option or meaning that's in
my old program).

The manpage for each program appears to describe its behaviour
reasonably accurately for the operations I have used; however, I
rarely use `fsf' and similar operations.

I need some of the missing options - in particular, I need setblk, and
others may need setdensity.  seek and tell would also be quite useful.

BTW, the similarities in the wording suggest that at least the two
manpages have a common origin.

I have the source code for my `mt' program; it is from `tape-dist',
which at one point came with the kernel SCSI tape driver.  The README
is dated November 1992.  According to the README:

  The tape control program in this package is mt from the BSD NET2-release
  with the following additions: the commands erase, setblk, and setdensity
  have been added. setblk takes one argument which is the block size for the
  subsequent tape requests.   ...

I shall upload a tarfile (tape-dist-containing-mt.tar) to Incoming.

Ian.

        weof
+       eof
              Write count EOF marks at current position.

        fsf    Forward space count files.  The tape is  positioned
              on the first block of the next file.

-       fsfm   Forward  space count files.  The tape is positioned
-             on the last block of the previous file.

        bsf    Backward space count files.  The tape is positioned
+             on the first block of the next file.
-             on the last block of the previous file.

-       bsfm   Backward space count files.  The tape is positioned
-             on the first block of the next file.

+       bsfm   Backward space count file marks. The tape is posi-
+             tioned  on  the  beginning-of-the-tape  side of the
+             file mark.

+       asf    Absolute space to file number count.  Equivalent to
+             rewind followed by fsf count.

+       eom    Space  to the end of the recorded media on the tape
+             (for appending files onto tapes).

-       eod, seod
-             Space to end of valid data.  Used on streamer  tape
-             drives to append data to the logical and of tape.

-       setblk Set  the block size of the drive to count bytes per
-             record.

-       setdensity
-             Set the tape density code to  count.   The  proper
-             codes  to use  with each drive should be looked up
-             from the drive documentation.
-
-       seek   Seek to the count block on the tape.   This  opera-
-             tion  is  available  on  some  Tandberg and Wangtek
-             streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.
-
-       tell   Tell the current block on tape.  This operation  is
-             available on  some  Tandberg and Wangtek streamers
-             and some SCSI-2 tape drives.

Message sent:

From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Subject: Bug#746: Acknowledgement (was: mt doesn't support setblk (and other options))
In-Reply-To: <m0rvz4k-0000YSZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>
References: <m0rvz4k-0000YSZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>

Thank you for the problem report you have sent regarding Debian GNU/Linux.
This is an automatically generated reply, to let you know your message has
been received.  It is being forwarded to the developers' mailing list for
their attention; they will reply in due course.

If you wish to submit further information on your problem, please send
it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, but please ensure that the Subject
line of your message starts with "Bug#746" or "Re: Bug#746" so that
we can identify it as relating to the same problem.

Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message,
unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system.

Ian Jackson
(maintainer, debian-bugs)

Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com:

Subject: Bug#746: mt doesn't support setblk (and other options)
Reply-To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson), debian-bugs@pixar.com
Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com
Resent-From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Resent-Date: Sat, 17 Jun 1995 13:33:07 GMT
Resent-Message-ID: <debian-bugs-handler.746.061713301723687@pixar.com>
Message-Id: <m0sMwzz-0000XqZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 95 13:29 BST
From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: Debian bugs submission address <debian-bugs@pixar.com>
In-Reply-To: <m0rwEoe-0007akC@grus.cus.cam.ac.uk>
References: <m0rvz4k-0000YSZ.ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu>
	<m0rwEoe-0007akC@grus.cus.cam.ac.uk>

I complained that the version of `mt' we are distributing doesn't
support `setblk' and various other options.

I've just read the attached message in col.hardware.  Clearly we
should be distributing a different version of `mt'.

Ian.

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.hardware
Message-ID: <3q4fgr$sg@annex-1-slip-jik.cam.ov.com>
References: <3q3mr6$hir@azure.acsu.buffalo.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: annex-1-slip-jik.cam.ov.com
From: jik@annex-1-slip-jik.cam.ov.com (Jonathan Kamens)
Subject: Re: 4mm DAT tape R/W on PC and SGI problem
Date: 26 May 1995 11:54:03 GMT

Your question is answered in the SCSI HOWTO.  Go read it.  In particular:

Section 6.2.4 :  Problems taking tapes to/from other systems.

	You can't read a tape made with another operating system or
	another operating system can't read a tape written in Linux.

	Different systems often use different block sizes.  On a
	tape device using a fixed blocksize, you will get errors
	when reading blocks written using a different block size.

	To read these tapes, you must set the blocksize of
	the tape driver to match the blocksize used when
	the tape was written, or to variable.

	NOTE : this is the hardware block size, not the blocking
	factor used with tar, dump, etc.

	You can do this with the mt command -


		mt setblk <size>

	or

		mt setblk 0

	to get variable block length support.

	Note that these mt flags are NOT supported under the GNU version
	of mt which is included with some Linux distributions.  Instead,
	you must use the BSD derrived Linux SCSI mt command.  Source
	should be available from

	tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/ALPHA/scsi

Message sent:

From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
Subject: Bug#746: Info received (was Bug#746: mt doesn't support setblk (and other options))
In-Reply-To: <m0sMwzz-0000XqZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>
References: <m0sMwzz-0000XqZ@chiark.al.cl.cam.ac.uk>

Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding
this problem report.  It has been forwarded to the developers to
accompany the original report.

If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem,
please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring
that the Subject line starts with "Bug#746" or "Re: Bug#746" so that
we can identify it as relating to the same problem.

Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message,
unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system.

Ian Jackson
(maintainer, debian-bugs)

Ian Jackson / iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk, with the debian-bugs tracking mechanism

This page last modified 07:43:01 GMT Wed 01 Nov