The Ftape Installation and Usage Guide - ftape-402 compatibility
When using ftape-3.04d and later versions up to ftape-4.02 (inclusively) seeking always stays within the same volume, and the block address is relative to the start of the current volume. This is incompatible with the way SCSI drives implement this command where the block address is relative to the beginning of the tape. This has been fixed in ftape-4.03.
The following tape ioctls have changed between ftape-4.02 and ftape-4.04 as a result of the changed tape block address handling:
MTFSR |
MTBSR |
MTSEEK |
MTTELL |
MTIOCPOS |
MTIOCGET |
Note that each file mark counts as a single tape block. So sending a
MTFSR
with count 1 when positioned right before a file mark will
position right at the start of the following volume.
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