make_vtl_media(1)

💾 make_vtl_media(1) — the manual, bestie ✨

okay so this is the make_vtl_media(1) page from the User Commands section, and it’s literally about creating the library database from lib_contents.* file(s). group-chat recap: this is your setup goblin, and it eats slot barcodes for breakfast 🍓💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

make_vtl_media — create the library database from lib_contents.* file(s).

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

make_vtl_media -h|--help -- print help message and exit, or
make_vtl_media [OPTIONS]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so this program is invoked initially when the software is installed, but you can also run it later to recreate the tape library database. it does that by reading the device.conf and library_contents.* files in our configuration directory, finding the Slot entries in those files, and extracting the barcode found for each slot. slay, honestly 💅✨

Where OPTIONS are from:

• -H, --home-dir=DIR — set the mhvtl home directory. default is /var/lib/mhvtl 🏠
• -C, --config-dir=DIR — set the config directory. default is /etc/mhvtl 🎀
• -f, --force — overwrite existing database files, if needed. no cap, it’s giving “just do it” energy 🔥
• -c, --create-dir — create the home directory, if needed. lowkey helpful 🫶

now for the barcode vibe check 👇

• If barcode starts with W — create as Write Once Read Many (WORM) media type. iconic WORM behavior 🪱✨
• If barcode starts with CLN — create media type as cleaning cartridge. scrub scrub 🧼
• Otherwise — create the media as a data cartridge. it attempts to use the chars 7 and 8 to work out the media type (LTO1/2/3/4/5/6/7, T10K, AIT etc). see mktape(1) for more details on media density. and feel free to replace this script with one that better suits your needs — main character energy, customize away 👑

⚠️ if the configuration is regenerated, then the mhvtl.target service should be restarted. don’t forget, bestie 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by Mark Harvey. king behavior 👑

💀 BUGS 💀

Not documented. lowkey that’s the whole bug report 💀

📬 REPORTING BUGS 📬

Report bugs to <markh794@gmail.com>.

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• library_contents(5)
• mktape(1)
• vtlcmd(1)
• vtllibrary(1)
• vtltape(1)
• generate_device_conf(1)
• generate_library_contents(1)

okay that’s the whole page, bestie — source/version is mhvtl 1.72_release+6.a11b6777660..., dated May 2025 🫶💅✨