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.TH MT 1 "January 28, 2014" "MT" "GNU CPIO"

.SH NAME

mt \- control magnetic tape drive operation

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B mt

[\fB\-V\fR] [\fB\-f\fR \fIdevice\fR] [\fB\-\-file=\fIdevice\fR] [\fB\-\-rsh-command=\fIcommand\fR] [\fB\-\-version\fR]

\fIoperation\fR [\fIcount\fR]

.SH DESCRIPTION

This manual page

documents the GNU version of

.BR mt .

.B mt

performs the given

.IR operation ,

which must be one of the tape operations listed below, on a tape

drive.

.PP

The default tape device to operate on is taken from the file

.B /usr/include/sys/mtio.h

when

.B mt

is compiled.  It can be overridden by giving a device file name in

the environment variable

.BR TAPE

or by a command line option (see below), which also overrides the

environment variable.

.PP

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).

.PP

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.

.TP

.BR eof ", " weof

Write

.I count

EOF marks at current position.

.TP 

.B fsf

Forward space

.I count

files.

The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.

.TP 

.B bsf

Backward space

.I count

files.

The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.

.TP 

.B fsr

Forward space

.I count

records.

.TP 

.B bsr

Backward space

.I count

records.

.TP 

.B bsfm

Backward space

.I count

file marks.

The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of

the file mark.

.TP 

.B fsfm

Forward space

.I count

file marks.

The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-the-tape side of

the file mark.

.TP 

.B asf

Absolute space to file number

.IR count .

Equivalent to rewind followed by fsf

.IR count .

.TP 

.B seek

Seek to block number

.IR count .

.TP 

.B eom

Space to the end of the recorded media on the tape

(for appending files onto tapes).

.TP 

.B rewind

Rewind the tape.

.TP 

.BR offline ", " rewoffl

Rewind the tape and, if applicable, unload the tape.

.TP 

.B status

Print status information about the tape unit.

.TP 

.B retension

Rewind the tape, then wind it to the end of the reel,

then rewind it again.

.TP 

.B erase

Erase the tape.

.PP

.B 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.

.SS OPTIONS

.TP

\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-file=\fIdevice\fR

Use

.I 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).

.TP

\fB\-\-rsh-command=\fIcommand\fR

Notifies

.B mt

that it should use

.I command

to communicate with remote devices instead of

.B /usr/bin/ssh

or

.BR /usr/bin/rsh .

.TP

\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR

Print the version number of

.BR mt .

.SH "BUG REPORTS"

Report bugs to <bug\-cpio@gnu.org>.

.SH COPYRIGHT

Copyright \(co 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

.br

.na

License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

.br

.ad

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

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