xref: /freebsd/usr.bin/mt/mt.1 (revision bf5cbf35513d811c5829f8756a46eeb017a0a39b)
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33.\"	@(#)mt.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
34.\"
35.Dd June 6, 1993
36.Dt MT 1
37.Os BSD 4
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm mt
40.Nd magnetic tape manipulating program
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl f Ar tapename
44.Ar command
45.Op Ar count
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Nm Mt
48is used to give commands to a magnetic tape drive.
49By default
50.Nm
51performs the requested operation once.  Operations
52may be performed multiple times by specifying
53.Ar count  .
54Note
55that
56.Ar tapename
57must reference a raw (not block) tape device.
58.Pp
59The available commands are listed below.  Only as many
60characters as are required to uniquely identify a command
61need be specified.
62.Bl -tag -width "eof, weof"
63.It Cm weof
64Write
65.Ar count
66end-of-file marks at the current position on the tape.
67.It Cm fsf
68Forward space
69.Ar count
70files.
71.It Cm fsr
72Forward space
73.Ar count
74records.
75.It Cm bsf
76Back space
77.Ar count
78files.
79.It Cm bsr
80Back space
81.Ar count
82records.
83.It Cm rewind
84Rewind the tape
85(Count is ignored).
86.It Cm offline , rewoffl
87Rewind the tape and place the tape unit off-line
88(Count is ignored).
89.It Cm erase
90Erase the tape
91(Count is ignored).
92.It Cm retension
93Re-tension the tape
94(one full wind forth and back, Count is ignored).
95.It Cm status
96Print status information about the tape unit.
97.It Cm blocksize
98Set the block size for the tape unit.  Zero means variable-length
99blocks.
100.It Cm density
101Set the density for the tape unit.  For the density codes, see below.
102The density value could be given either numerically, or as a string,
103corresponding to the
104.Dq Reference
105field.  If the string is abbreviated, it will be resolved in the order
106shown in the table, and the first matching entry will be used.  If the
107given string and the resulting canonical density name do not match
108exactly, an informational message is printed about what the given
109string has been taken for.
110.It Cm eom
111Forward space to end of recorded medium
112(Count is ignored).
113.It Cm eod
114Forward space to end of data, identical to
115.Cm eom .
116.It Cm comp
117Set compression mode.
118(The kernel counterpart of this has not yet been reported to work
119correctly.)
120.El
121.Pp
122If a tape name is not specified, and the environment variable
123.Ev TAPE
124does not exist;
125.Nm
126uses the device
127.Pa /dev/nrst0 .
128.Pp
129.Nm Mt
130returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful,
1311 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation failed.
132.Pp
133The different density codes are as follows:
134.Pp
135.Dl 0x0	default for device
136.Dl 0xE	reserved for ECMA
137.Bd -literal -offset indent
138Value Tracks Density(bpi) Code Type  Reference     Note
1390x1     9       800       NRZI  R    X3.22-1983    2
1400x2     9      1600       PE    R    X3.39-1986    2
1410x3     9      6250       GCR   R    X3.54-1986    2
1420x5    4/9     8000       GCR   C    X3.136-1986   1
1430x6     9      3200       PE    R    X3.157-1987   2
1440x7     4      6400       IMFM  C    X3.116-1986   1
1450x8     4      8000       GCR   CS   X3.158-1986   1
1460x9    18     37871       GCR   C    X3B5/87-099   2
1470xA    22      6667       MFM   C    X3B5/86-199   1
1480xB     4      1600       PE    C    X3.56-1986    1
1490xC    24     12690       GCR   C    HI-TC1        1,5
1500xD    24     25380       GCR   C    HI-TC2        1,5
1510xF    15     10000       GCR   C    QIC-120       1,5
1520x10   18     10000       GCR   C    QIC-150       1,5
1530x11   26     16000       GCR   C    QIC-320(525?) 1,5
1540x12   30     51667       RLL   C    QIC-1350      1,5
1550x13    1     61000       DDS   CS   X3B5/88-185A  4
1560x14    1     43245       RLL   CS   X3.202-1991   4
1570x15    1     45434       RLL   CS   ECMA TC17     4
1580x16   48     10000       MFM   C    X3.193-1990   1
1590x17   48     42500       MFM   C    X3B5/91-174   1
160.Ed
161
162where Code means:
163.Bd -literal -offset indent
164NRZI	Non Return to Zero, change on ones
165GCR	Group Code Recording
166PE	Phase Encoded
167IMFM	Inverted Modified Frequency Modulation
168MFM	Modified Frequency Modulation
169DDS	Dat Data Storage
170RLL	Run Length Encoding
171.Ed
172
173where Type means:
174.Bd -literal -offset indent
175R	Reel-to-Reel
176C	Cartridge
177CS	cassette
178.Ed
179
180where Notes means:
181.Bd -literal -offset indent
1821	Serial Recorded
1832	Parallel Recorded
1843	Old format know as QIC-11
1854	Helical Scan
1865	Not ANSI standard, rather industry standard.
187.Ed
188
189.Sh ENVIRONMENT
190If the following environment variable exists, it is utilized by
191.Nm mt .
192.Bl -tag -width Fl
193.It Ev TAPE
194.Nm Mt
195checks the
196.Ev TAPE
197environment variable if the
198argument
199.Ar tapename
200is not given.
201.Sh FILES
202.Bl -tag -width /dev/*rst[0-9]*xx -compact
203.It Pa /dev/*rwt*
204QIC-02/QIC-36 magnetic tape interface
205.It Pa /dev/*rst[0-9]*
206SCSI magnetic tape interface
207.El
208.Sh SEE ALSO
209.Xr dd 1 ,
210.Xr ioctl 2 ,
211.Xr mtio 4 ,
212.Xr st 4 ,
213.Xr wt 4 ,
214.Xr environ 7
215.Sh HISTORY
216The
217.Nm
218command appeared in
219.Bx 4.3 .
220.Pp
221Extensions regarding the
222.Xr st 4
223driver appeared in 386BSD 0.1 as a separate
224.Xr st 1
225command, and have been merged into the
226.Nm
227command in
228.Fx 2.1 .
229.Pp
230The former
231.Cm eof
232command that used to be a synonym for
233.Cm weof
234has been abandoned in
235.Fx 2.1
236since it was often confused with
237.Cm eom ,
238which is fairly dangerous.
239