READ_TAPE(8)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💾 READ_TAPE(8) — the read_tape glow-up ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the AFS Command Reference 🎀 this one is read_tape, and she's lowkey a legend because she works completely solo. no server, no client, just vibes and a tape drive 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

read_tape — reads volume dumps from a backup tape to a file 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

read_tape -tape <tape device>
   -restore <# of volumes to restore>
   -skip <# of volumes to skip>
   -file <filename> [-scan] [-noask] [-label]
   [-vheaders] [-verbose] [-help]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the tea ☕: read_tape reads an OpenAFS backup tape and prompts you for each dump file to save. that's it, that's the whole job, and she does it flawlessly 🫶

the iconic part? this command does not require any OpenAFS infrastructure. like, none. she doesn't need an OpenAFS client or server to be available — which is literally not the case with the backup(8) command. so when everything else is down and you're stress-crying at 3am, read_tape is the friend who shows up with snacks 😭🔥

the dump files will be named for the Read/Write name of the volume restored. after saving each dump file, you can use vos restore or restorevol to restore the volume into AFS space and non-AFS space respectively 🌈

and here's how the tape-reading choreography goes: read_tape reads the tape while skipping the specified number of volumes, and after that, it restores the specified number of volumes. also she doesn't rewind the tape, so you can run her multiple times in succession. queen behavior, honestly 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -tape <tape device> — specifies the tape device from which to restore 🎀
  • -restore <# of volumes to restore> — specifies the number of volumes to restore from tape ✨
  • -skip <# of volumes to skip> — specifies the number of volumes to skip before starting the restore 🌸
  • -file <filename> — specifies an alternate name for the restored volume dump file rather than the default of the volume name 🦋
  • -scan — scans the tape 🔍
  • -noask — doesn't prompt for each volume 🙈
  • -label — displays the full dump label 🏷️
  • -vheaders — displays the full volume headers 📋
  • -verbose — produces on the standard output stream a detailed trace of the command's execution. if this argument is omitted, only warnings and error messages appear 👀
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored 🫶

🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

the following command will read the third through fifth volumes from the tape device /dev/tape without prompting:

% read_tape -tape /dev/tape -skip 2 -restore 3 -noask

see how -skip 2 + -restore 3 = volumes 3, 4, and 5? math is math, bestie 🧮✨

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

the issuer must have access to read and write to the specified tape device. no tape permissions, no tape magic, periodt 💀

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Copyright 2007 Jason Edgecombe <jason@rampaginggeek.com>

this documentation is covered by the BSD License as written in the doc/LICENSE file. this man page was written by Jason Edgecombe for OpenAFS.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this beauty ships with OpenAFS and the version/date stamp on her is 2026-07-27 — go read some tapes, you absolute icon 💖✨

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