## SYNOPSIS

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

## DESCRIPTION

           This manual page documents the GNU version of mt.  mt per
           forms  the  given operation, which must be one of the tape
           operations 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 environ
           ment  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  `HOST
           NAME:'.  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  abbre
           viations  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 posi
                  tioned  on  the  beginning-of-the-tape  side of the
                  file mark.

           fsfm   Forward space count file marks.  The tape is  posi
                  tioned  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.
                  reel, then rewind it again.

           erase  Erase the tape.

           fss    (SCSI tapes) Forward space count setmarks.

           bss    (SCSI tapes) Backward space count setmarks.

           wset   (SCSI tapes) Write count setmarks at current  posi
                  tion (only SCSI tape).

           eod, seod
                  Space  to end of valid data.  Used on streamer tape
                  drives to append data to the logical and of tape.

           setblk (SCSI tapes) Set the block size  of  the  drive  to
                  count bytes per record.

           setdensity
                  (SCSI  tapes)  Set  the tape density code to count.
                  The proper codes to use with each drive  should  be
                  looked up from the drive documentation.

           drvbuffer
                  (SCSI tapes) Set the tape drive buffer code to num
                  ber.  The proper value for unbuffered operation  is
                  zero and "normal" buffered operation one. The mean
                  ings of other values can be found in the drive doc
                  umentation  or, in case of a SCSI-2 drive, from the
                  SCSI-2 standard.

           stoptions
                  (SCSI tapes) Set the driver options bits  to  count
                  for  the  device.  The bits can be set by oring the
                  following values: 1 to enable write buffering, 2 to
                  enable asynchronous writes, 4 to enable read ahead,
                  8 to enable debugging output (if it has  been  com
                  piled to the driver).

           stwrthreshold
                  (SCSI  tapes)  The  write  threshold  for  the tape
                  device is set to count kilobytes. The value must be
                  smaller than or equal to the driver buffer size.

           seek   (SCSI  tapes)  Seek to the count block on the tape.
                  This operation is available on  some  Tandberg  and
                  Wangtek streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.

           tell   (SCSI  tapes) Tell the current block on tape.  This
                  operation is available on some Tandberg and Wangtek
                  streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.

           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  `HOST
                  NAME:'.  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  communi
                  cate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or
                  /usr/bin/rsh.

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

                                                               MT(1L)