mt-gnu
control magnetic tape drive operation
Synopsis
mt
[-V] [-f device] [--file=device]
[--rsh-command=command] [--version]
operation [count]
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
no example yet ...
... Feel free to add your own example above to help other Linux-lovers !
description
This manual
page documents the GNU version of mt. mt
performs the given operation, which must be one of
the tape operations listed below, on a tape drive.
The default
tape device to operate on is taken from the file
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h when mt is compiled.
It can be overridden by giving a device file name in the
environment variable TAPE or by a command line option
(see below), which also overrides the environment
variable.
The device must
be either a character special file or a remote tape drive.
To use a tape drive on another machine as the archive, use a
filename that starts with ’HOSTNAME:’. The
hostname can be preceded by a username and an
’@’ to access the remote tape drive as that
user, if you have permission to do so (typically an entry in
that user’s ’~/.rhosts’ file).
The available
operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems,
or work on all types of tape drives. Some operations
optionally take a repeat count, which can be given after the
operation name and defaults to 1.
eof, weof
Write count EOF marks at
current position.
fsf
Forward space count files. The tape is positioned
on the first block of the next file.
bsf
Backward space count files. The tape is
positioned on the first block of the next file.
fsr
Forward space count records.
bsr
Backward space count records.
bsfm
Backward space count file marks. The tape is
positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of the file
mark.
fsfm
Forward space count file marks. The tape is
positioned 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.
seek
Seek to block number count.
eom
Space to the end of the recorded media on the tape (for
appending files onto tapes).
rewind
Rewind the tape.
offline, rewoffl
Rewind the tape and, if
applicable, unload the tape.
status
Print status information about the tape unit.
retension
Rewind the tape, then wind it
to the end of the reel, then rewind it again.
mt exits
with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded, 1 if the
operation or device name given was invalid, or 2 if the
operation failed.
OPTIONS
-f, --file=device
Use device as the file
name of the tape drive to operate on. To use a tape drive on
another machine, use a filename that starts with
’HOSTNAME:’. The hostname can be preceded by a
username and an ’@’ to access the remote tape
drive as that user, if you have permission to do so
(typically an entry in that user’s
’~/.rhosts’ file).
--rsh-command=command
Notifies mt that it
should use command to communicate with remote devices
instead of /usr/bin/ssh or /usr/bin/rsh.
-V,
--version
Print the version number of
mt.
reporting bugs
Report cpio bugs to bug-cpio[:at:]gnu[:dot:]org
GNU cpio home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/cpio/>
General help using GNU software:
<http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report cpio translation bugs to
<http://translationproject.org/team/>