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NAME

       stinit - initialize SCSI magnetic tape drives

SYNOPSIS

       stinit [-f conf-file] [-h] [-p] [-r] [-v] [devices...]

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page  documents  the tape control program stinit can used to initialize SCSI
       tape drive modes at system startup, after loading the tape  driver  as  module,  or  after
       introduction  of  new  device  to  the  SCSI  subsystem at run-time. The initialization is
       performed by sending ioctl commands to the drive. The commands are defined in a text  file
       that is indexed using the inquiry data the drive returns (manufacturer, device, revision).
       Values for all of the general and mode-specific SCSI tape parameters up to  Linux  version
       2.6.0 can be initialized.

OPTIONS

       -f conf-file
              Specifies  the  name of the text file containing the definitions for different tape
              drive types. By default stinit tries to find  the  definition  file  stinit.def  or
              /etc/stinit.def (in this order).

       -h     Print the usage information.

       -p     The  definition  file is parsed but no tape drive initialization is attempted. This
              option can be used for testing the integrity of a  definition  file  after  changes
              have been made.

       -r     Rewind every device being initialized.

       -v     The more -v options (currently up to two), the more verbose output.

       --version
              Print the program version.

THE DEVICES BEING INITIALIZED

       If  the  program  is  started without arguments, it tries to find all accessible SCSI tape
       devices and the device files for the different modes of the devices. The tape  drives  are
       searched  in  the  scanning order of the kernel and searching is stopped at the first non-
       existing tape. All of the found devices are initialized if a matching description is found
       from  the  parameter  file.  Note  that  a  mode  for  a  device is not initialized if the
       corresponding device file is not found even if a matching description for the mode exists.
       The  non-rewind  device  is  preferred  over  the auto-rewind device for each mode. If the
       directory /dev/tapes is found, the devfs filesystem is assumed  to  be  mounted  on  /dev.
       Otherwise, the directories /dev/scsi and /dev are scanned for device files.

       SCSI  tape  drives  can  be  initialized  selectively  using  program arguments. A numeric
       argument specifies the number of the tape drive in the scanning order  of  the  kernel.  A
       file  name  specifies  that the device corresponding to this name is to be initialized. If
       the file name is given without the directory specification, the program searches  for  the
       name  in  the  device  directories /dev/scsi and /dev.  Only full path names are supported
       with devfs.

THE CONFIGURATION FILE

       The configuration file is a simple text file that contains descriptions of tape drives and
       the corresponding initialization parameters. The parameter definition blocks are delimited
       by {}.   Specification  of  the  drive  description  is  restarted  after  each  parameter
       definition block.

       The  drive  descriptions and the parameter definitions consist of pairs name = value.  The
       value is either a numeric parameter, a string not containing blanks, or a  quoted  string.
       In  case of a numeric parameter, the postfix k or M can be used to give the value in units
       of 1024 or 1024 * 1024, respectively. If the =value -part is omitted,  the  value  "1"  is
       used.  If  the character # is found from an input line, the rest of the line is discarded.
       This allows use of comments  in  the  definition  file.  The  following  example  contains
       definitions for one type of tape drives:

              # The XY dat
              manufacturer=XY-COMPANY model = "UVW DRIVE" {
              scsi2logical=1 # Common definitions for all modes
              can-bsr can-partitions auto-lock
              # Definition of modes
              mode1 blocksize=0 compression=1
              mode2 blocksize=1024 compression=1
              mode3 blocksize=0 compression=0
              mode4 blocksize = 1k compression=0 }

       The  devices  are identified using zero or more of the following keywords corresponding to
       the data returned by the tape device as response to the SCSI INQUIRY command. The  matches
       are  case-sensitive  and  performed  up  to  the  length defined in the configuration file
       (permitting use of partial matches).

       manufacturer=
              This keyword specifies  the  string  that  must  match  the  vendor  identification
              returned by the device.

       model= This keyword defines the string that must match the product identification returned
              by the device.

       revision=
              This keyword matched the string that must match the product revision level returned
              by the device.

       All  of  the  matching  initializations are collected in the order they are defined in the
       file. This means that common parameters can be defined for all devices using zero keywords
       for  a definition block. Another consequence is that, for instance, some parameters can be
       easily given different values for a  specific  firmware  revision  without  repeating  the
       parameters common to all revisions.

       The tape parameters are defined using the following keywords. More thorough description of
       the parameters can be found from the st(4) man page (not up to date when this is  written)
       or  from the file drivers/scsi/README.st in the Linux kernel source tree. The keywords are
       matched using only the first characters. The part of the keywords not used in matching  is
       enclosed  by  [].  The  numeric  values  may  be  specified  either in decimal notation or
       hexadecimal notation (using the prefix 0x).

       drive-[buffering]=value
              The drive's buffering parameter is set to value.  This parameter if common for  all
              modes.

       cleaning
              The cleaning request notifying parameter is set to value

       no-w[ait]
              The  immediate  mode  is used with commands like rewind if value is non-zero (i.e.,
              the driver does not wait for the command to finish).

       mode=value
              This keyword starts definition of tape mode value.  The number of the mode must  be
              between 1 and 4.

       disab[led]=value
              This  mode  is  disabled  for this device if value is non-zero. Can be used if some
              mode defined in a more general definition should be disabled  by  a  more  specific
              definition for some device (for example, for a device with buggy firmware level).

       block[size]=value
              The  default  tape  block  size  is set to value.  bytes. The block size zero means
              variable block mode.

       dens[ity]=value
              The tape density code is set to value.

       buff[ering]=value
              The buffered writes by the driver in fixed block mode are enabled if value is  non-
              zero.

       async[-writes]=value
              Asynchronous writes by the driver are enabled if value is non-zero.

       read[-ahead]=value
              Read-ahead by the driver in fixed block mode is allowed if value is non-zero.

       two[-fms]=value
              Two  filemarks  are written when a file being written to is closed if value is non-
              zero. By default, one filemark is written.

       comp[ression]=value
              Compression of the data by the drive is enabled if value is non-zero. Note that the
              tape  driver  can't  enable compression for all drives that can compress data. Note
              also that some drives define compression using density codes.

       auto[-lock]=value
              The tape drive door is locked automatically when the device file is opened if value
              is non-zero.

       fast[-eom]=value
              The  MTEOM  command is performed using the SCSI command that spaces directly to the
              end of medium if value is non-zero. The drawback is that the  file  number  in  the
              status  becomes  invalid.  By  default,  spacing  to  end of medium is performed by
              spacing over filemarks until end of medium is detected and the file number  remains
              valid.

       can-b[sr]=value
              Backspacing  over  records  is  used by the driver when repositioning the tape when
              read-ahead is enabled if value is non-zero.

       noblk[limits]=value
              The tape driver does not use the READ BLOCK LIMITS SCSI command when the device  is
              being  opened if value is non-zero. This is for the drives that do not support this
              SCSI command.

       can-p[artitions]=value
              The support for tape partitions is enabled if value is non-zero.

       scsi2[logical]=value
              Logical block addresses are used in the MTSEEK and MTIOCPOS commands  if  value  is
              non-zero. The default is to use the device-specific addresses.

       sili=value
              If value is non-zero, the SILI bit is set when reading in variable block mode. This
              may speed up reading blocks shorter than the read byte count. Set this only if  you
              know  that  the  drive supports SILI and the HBA reliably returns transfer residual
              byte counts. Requires kernel version >= 2.6.26.

       defs-for-w[rites]=value
              The parameters defining the tape format (density, block  size,  etc.)   are  forced
              when writing starts at the beginning of a tape if value is non-zero. The default is
              to change there parameters each time the device is opened at  the  beginning  of  a
              tape (or the mode is changed in the middle of a tape).

       sysv=value
              The  System  V  tape  semantics  are  used  if value is non-zero. Otherwise the BSD
              semantics are used.

       timeout=value
              The normal timeout for the device is set to value seconds.

       long-time[out]=value
              The long timeout for the device is set to value seconds.

RETURN VALUE

       The program exits with value one if the command line is incorrect, the definition file  is
       not found, or option -p is given and parsing the definition file fails. In all other cases
       the return value is zero (i.e., failing of initialization is not currently signaled by the
       return value).

RESTRICTIONS

       With  the  exception of the -p option, the program can be used only by the superuser. This
       is because the program uses ioctls allowed only for the superuser.

AUTHOR

       The program is written by Kai Makisara <Kai.Makisara@kolumbus.fi>.

COPYRIGHT

       The program and the manual page are copyrighted by Kai Makisara, 1998-2008.  They  can  be
       distributed according to the GNU Copyleft.

SEE ALSO

       st(4) mt(1)

                                            April 2008                                  STINIT(8)