[ On Thu, April 10, 1997 at 21:54:49 (+0100), James Graham wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: Dumping to a DAT drive
>
> #On 9 Apr 1997 22:51:20 -0000  explorer@flame.org wrote:
> #
> #FreeBSD have added '-a' to dump for this, if you want some existing
> #practice (or even code!).
> 
> Why do we need a flag at all?
> 
> I think the point is that dump should just automagically handle EOT/EOM
> without the need for a special flag.

Well, without any flags pertaining to media size, etc., dump has
traditionally made certain assumptions.  If you're willing to change the
assumptions, then no, a flag is not needed.

Yes, dump and all other utilities that are commonly used to read and
write tapes should handle end-of-medium intelligently, but of course we
must not assume that all tape hardware does the same, so there still
must be support for media specification flags.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 443-1734			VE3TCP			robohack!woods
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets Of The Weird <woods@weird.com>