Manual: mt

MT(1)							  GNU CPIO						       MT(1)

NAME
       mt - control magnetic tape drive operation

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

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page documents the GNU version of mt.  mt performs the given operation, which must be one of the tape op‐
       erations listed below, on a tape drive.

       The  default tape device to operate on is taken from the file /usr/include/sys/mtio.h when mt is compiled.  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.

       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).

       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.

       eof, weof
	      Write count EOF marks at current position.

       fsf    Forward space count files.  The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.

       bsf    Backward space count files.  The tape is positioned on the first block of the next file.

       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).

       rewind Rewind the tape.

       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.

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

       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).

       --rsh-command=command
	      Notifies	mt  that  it  should  use  command  to	communicate  with  remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or
	      /usr/bin/rsh.

       -V, --version
	      Print the version number of mt.

BUG REPORTS
       Report bugs to .

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright © 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later 
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted  by
       law.

MT						      January 28, 2014						       MT(1)