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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
Perform long erase of tape. If
.I count
is 0, perform short erase of tape (some devices do not support this).
.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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