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8.8.7.6: FTFMT_STATUS -- monitor formatting a tape track

This operation is needed to synchronise the user level formatting program with the kernel level device driver while formatting a tape track. It simply returns the number of the segment that just has been formatted.

However, the main purpose of this command is to make the kernel driver update the DMA buffers with new sector coordinates and performs the DMA buffer flipping. Note that depending on the number of segments per tape track it might be the case that the coordinates for an entire tape track doesn't fit into the DMA buffers all at once. In this case, the FTFMT_STATUS operation uses the regions of the DMA buffers which already have been written to the FDC to store the coordinates for the remaining segments that didn't fit into the DMA buffers when they were filled the first time as a side effect of the FTFMT_FORMAT_TRACK operation.

The FTFMT_STATUS operation is also nice for monitoring the progress the driver makes in formatting a tape track.


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