From owner-freebsd-doc Wed Mar 6 15:40:42 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.FreeBSD.org [216.136.204.21]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0665A37B42F for ; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:40:02 -0800 (PST) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) id g26Ne1164184; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:40:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gnats) Received: from lists.blarg.net (lists.blarg.net [206.124.128.17]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0295537B419 for ; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:34:45 -0800 (PST) Received: from thig.blarg.net (thig.blarg.net [206.124.128.18]) by lists.blarg.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id B4A80BD10 for ; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:34:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost.localdomain ([206.124.139.115]) by thig.blarg.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA10421 for ; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:34:42 -0800 Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localdomain (8.11.6/8.11.3) id g26Nc0u41978; Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:38:00 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from swear@blarg.net) Message-Id: Date: 06 Mar 2002 15:38:00 -0800 From: "Gary W. Swearingen" Reply-To: swear@blarg.net To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org Subject: docs/35609: mt(1) page needs explanation of "long erase". Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org >Number: 35609 >Category: docs >Synopsis: mt(1) page needs explanation of "long erase". >Confidential: no >Severity: non-critical >Priority: low >Responsible: freebsd-doc >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: change-request >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Wed Mar 06 15:40:01 PST 2002 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: Gary W. Swearingen >Release: FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE i386 >Organization: none >Environment: n/a ================ >Description: The "erase" description should explain that the default erase option writes something to the entire tape (or whatever it does, I don't know except that it takes a very long time) and that "long" is "very long". It should also explain that disabling "long erase" (with a count of 0) just writes to the tape header (or whatever it does) and should take a short time. It also doesn't say that the tape is left at BOT after erasing. ================ >How-To-Repeat: n/a ================ >Fix: I don't feel qualified to explain confidently, but here's my best effort for an "erase" description: Erase the tape and leave it rewound. A "count" of "0" disables the default method which takes a very long time and enables a method which takes a very short time. (The author doesn't know, but the long method might write zeros to the entire tape while the short method writes only to the tape header.) >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted: To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message