MT(1)

📦 version 2.15, in opensuse-leap 16.0

🌸 NAME 🌸

mt — control magnetic tape drive operation

periodt. That's the name, bestie. Now let's get into it.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mt [-V] [-f device] [--file=device] [--rsh-command=command] [--version]
operation [count]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so 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. no cap.

The default tape device to operate on is taken from the file /usr/include/sys/mtio.h when mt is compiled. but wait, there's more — 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. slay.

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). iykyk.

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. got it? good.

  • eof, weof — Write count EOF marks at current position. bye bye data? no, just marks.
  • fsf — Forward space count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file. move it move it.
  • bsf — Backward space count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file. back it up.
  • 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). for when you wanna add more.
  • rewind — Rewind the tape. rewind, bestie!
  • 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. a whole journey.
  • erase — Erase the tape. danger, but okay.

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). remote tape realness.
  • --rsh-command=command — Notifies mt that it should use command to communicate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or /usr/bin/rsh. ssh but make it custom.
  • -V, --version — Print the version number of mt. version check, slay.

🦋 BUG REPORTS 🦋

Report bugs to <bug-cpio@gnu.org>. they wanna know.

Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

fr fr, no warranty.

💖 that's the tea, bestie! this page came from GNU CPIO, dated January 28, 2014. now go rewind that tape and slay. 💅✨

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