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Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 16:31:02 -0400
From: Garrett Wollman <wollman@halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu>
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To: adrian@virginia.edu
Cc: FreeBSD Questions List <questions@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: ftp'ing a tar onto tape?
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<<On Wed, 31 May 1995 16:19:27 -0400 (EDT), "Adrian T. Filipi-Martin" <atf3r@server.cs.virginia.edu> said:

ftp> get docs.tar /dev/nrst0

You can't do this.

> 	st0: 10752-byte record too big
> 	tar: read error on /dev/nrst0: Input/output error

and this is why.

Try:

ftp> get docs.tar |"dd of=/dev/nrst0 bs=20b"

> 	Is there some way to controll the blocking from the ftp server, 
> so that this works?

It's not the FTP server's responsibility, it's your client which is
doing the writing as best it can (but that's not good enough since
ftp was not designed to write to tapes).

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman   | Shashish is simple, it's discreet, it's brief. ... 
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | Shashish is the bonding of hearts in spite of distance.
Opinions not those of| It is a bond more powerful than absence.  We like people
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