Copyright © 10 August 2001 Claus-Justus Heine
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
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This document describes basic usage and installation of the floppy tape device driver ftape for Linux.
This document applies to version 4.05 of the ftape device driver.
Copying | Your rights and freedoms. |
Introduction | What is ftape. |
Reporting bugs | Submitting bug and problem reports. |
Documentation | Ways to get access to the documentation. |
Quick Installation | If you are fed up with RTFM. |
Installation | How to install. |
Loading ftape | Loading the kernel modules. |
Testing ftape | Testing the driver. |
File System Interface | VFS Interface and Implementation Notes. |
Concept Index | Index. |
Ways to get access to the documentation | |
Sources of Documentation | Other documentation packages. |
HTML | The HTML version of the manual. |
Info | The Info version of the manual. |
Postscript | The Postscript version of the manual. |
TeXinfo | Rebuilding the documentation from source. |
Installation | |
Requirements | What is needed for the Installation. |
Kernel patches | Inclusion into kernel, compatibility patches. |
Compiling ftape | Compiling ftape, compile time configuration. |
Installing ftape | Installing the kernel modules and utilities. |
Un-installing ftape | Un-installing the kernel modules and utilities. |
Requirements | |
Ftape distribution | The floppy tape driver distribution `ftape-4.05.tar.gz '. |
Kernel Sources | The kernel sources for Linux v1.2.13 or later. |
Modules Utilities | Utilities for managing kernel modules. |
Tape Software | Backup software and related programs. |
Optional utilities | Utilities designed for ftape. |
Kernel log daemons | Kernel Log Daemons. |
The hardware | A floppy tape drive. |
PnP configuration | Plug and Pray (PnP) Utilities. |
Documentation formatting | Optional: recent documentation formatting tools. |
Kernel Patches | |
Very old kernels | What to do if running prehistoric kernels. |
v1.2.13 | Installation under Linux v1.2.13. |
v2.x.x | Installation under Linux v2.0.0 and up. |
Installation under Linux v1.2.13 | |
Patching 1.2.13 | Changing 1.2.13 by using the patch command. |
Changing 1.2.13 by hand | Doing it yourself. |
Compiling ftape, compile time configuration | |
FDC_OPT | Setting up for your hardware. |
CONFIG_MODVERSIONS | Versioned symbols. |
BROKEN_FLOPPY_DRIVER | Ignore bad behaviour of the floppy driver. |
CONFIG_FT_PROC_FS | The procfs Interface of ftape. |
TRACE_FLAGS | Controlling the amount of debugging output. |
Loading the Kernel Modules | |
Module Stack | Which modules are needed? |
Autoloading | Using the kernel's module auto-loading. |
Configure ftape | Load time configuration. |
Inserting ftape | Inserting the ftape modules into the kernel. |
Load time configuration | |
ftape.o | ftape.o module options. |
zftape.o | zftape.o module options. |
zft-compressor.o | zft-compressor.o module options. |
ftape-internal.o | ftape-internal.o module options. |
trakker.o bpck-fdc.o | trakker.o and bpck-fdc.o module options. |
All FDC driver modules | General FDC driver module options. |
Inserting the ftape modules into the kernel | |
conf.modules | Modifying `/etc/conf.modules '. |
request_module | Using the kernel's module auto-loading mechanism. |
modprobe | Loading the driver with modprobe. |
Modifying `/etc/conf.modules '
| |
Auto-loading | Prepare for module auto-loading. |
FDC drivers | FDC drivers specification in `/etc/conf.modules '. |
FDC driver options | FDC drivers specification in `/etc/conf.modules '. |
Tricks | Automated memory de-fragmentation with swapout . |
Complete examples | Complete examples for `/etc/conf.modules '. |
Testing the driver | |
Ftape Tools | Useful utilities for ftape. |
Preparing the tests | Avoiding super user privileges. |
Running the tests | Performing sample backups. |
Other tests | Other test runs. |
ftape Debugging Messages | ftape Debugging Messages. |
Output of the status command | Output of ftmt status . |
Syslog example | Syslog example, first tape access. |
Useful utilities for ftape | |
Swapout | Swapout, the memory de-fragmentation utility. |
mt | The tape control program. |
vtblc | The volume table manipulation program. |
ftformat | The formatting program. |
VFS Interface and Implementation Notes | |
Devices description | Devices provided by ftape-4.05. |
ftape-2x compatibility | Compatibility with ftape-2.x. |
ftape-3x compatibility | Compatibility with ftape-3.04d. |
ftape-402 compatibility | Compatibility with ftape-4.02. |
File marks | `End Of File ' marks with ftape-4.05. |
Tape blocks | Recording fixed length data blocks. |
Compression | Builtin Compression. |
Ioctls | The ioctl interface to ftape. |
Devices provided by ftape-4.05 | |
devfs support | Device naming with devfs . |
Rewinding devices | Rewinding and non-rewinding devices. |
Drive selection | The meaning of the digit suffix. |
zftape devices | Devices provided by ftape-3.04d (and later versions). |
Rewinding and non-rewinding devices | |
Header segments | Updating of the header segments. |
tape motion commands | Rewinding devices and tape motion commands. |
Devices provided by ftape-4.05 | |
zftape devices table | Table of devices. |
zftape devices overview | Overview. |
/dev/qft | Devices with QIC-113 volume table segment. |
/dev/rft | Synonym to `/dev/qft ' (sym-link). |
/dev/zqft | Obsolete, no longer supported. |
/dev/rawft | Synonym to `/dev/qft ' (sym-link). |
Compatibility with ftape-2.x | |
ftape-2x support | Read only support for ftape-2.x. |
ftape-2x EOF semantics | Changed MTBSF and EOM semantics. |
Compatibility with ftape-4.02 | |
Tape block addressing | Tape block addressing. |
Raw access mode | Raw access mode. |
File marks | |
ftape-2x file marks | File mark implementation with ftape-2.x. |
ftape-3x file marks | File mark implementation with ftape-3.04d (and later versions). |
tar EOF | File marks and tar . |
The ioctl interface to ftape | |
MTIOCTOP | The tape operation wrapper ioctl. |
MTIOCGET | Query the tape status. |
MTIOCPOS | Query the tape position. |
MTIOCRDFTSEG and MTIOCWRFTSEG | Read and write floppy tape segments. |
MTIOCVOLINFO | Query info about the current volume (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTIOCGETSIZE | Query the size of the cartridge (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTIOCFTFORMAT | Format a floppy tape cartridge (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTIOCFTCMD | Send raw QIC-117 commands to the tape drive. |
MTIOCFTMODE | Switching between raw and regular mode. |
The tape operation wrapper ioctl MTIOCTOP
| |
MTRESET | Reset drive and driver. |
MTFSF | Skip forward over file marks. |
MTBSF | Skip backward over file marks. |
MTFSR | Skip forward over tape records. |
MTBSR | Skip backwards over tape records. |
MTWEOF | Write file mark. |
MTREW | Rewind cartridge. |
MTOFFL | Put drive off-line. |
MTNOP | No op, set status. |
MTRETEN | Retension the cartridge. |
MTBSFM | Skip backwards over file marks. |
MTFSFM | Skip forward over tape file marks. |
MTEOM | Skip to end of recorded area. |
MTERASE | Erase cartridge. |
MTSETBLK | Setting the block size (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTSETDENSITY | Setting the debugging level (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTSEEK | Seek to absolute tape block (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTTELL | Request tape position, buggy. |
MTSETDRVBUFFER | Set amount of driver memory (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTLOCK | Lock the tape door (Ditto Max ). |
MTUNLOCK | Unlock the tape door (Ditto Max ). |
MTLOAD | Unimplemented (Ditto Max ). |
MTUNLOAD | Unimplemented (Ditto Max ). |
MTCOMPRESSION | Switch compression on and off (ftape-3.04d (and later versions)). |
MTSETPART | Set the active partition (Ditto Max ). |
Formatting of cartridges using MTIOCFTFORMAT
| |
FTFORMAT compatibility | Differences between ftape-3.04d and ftape-4.05. |
struct mtftformat | MTIOCFTFORMAT ioctl definition. |
FTFMT_SET_PARMS | Set software parameters. |
FTFMT_GET_PARMS | Get software parameters. |
FTFMT_FORMAT_TRACK | Start formatting a tape track. |
FTFMT_STATUS | Monitor formatting a tape track. |
FTFMT_VERIFY | Verify a floppy tape segment. |
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