[1044] in linux-announce channel archive
TESTERS: Need beta testers for rmt-aware mtools-2.0.7
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Sat Sep 16 10:49:47 1995
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 1995 00:29:23 +0300
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: hm@ix.de (Harald Milz)
Subject: TESTERS: Need beta testers for rmt-aware mtools-2.0.7
Keywords: mtools remote tape floppy
Organization: Verlag Heinz Heise GmbH & Co KG
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.misc
Hi,
I'm looking for beta-testers for a patched version of
mtools-2.0.7 which is the latest official software
package to access DOS compatible diskettes and harddisk
partitions from a Unix machine.
This patched version will be called mtools-2.0.7-r (for
"remote"). It incorporates the latest remote tape /
diskette access routines from GNU tar-1.11.8, i.e. the
remote tape library rtapelib.c and rmt.h. Plus, I
merged the "/etc/mtools" configuration file
functionality from a later mtools version
(i.e. mtools-2.5 by Alain Knaff (Alain.Knaff@imag.fr)
and David Niemi (niemidc@clark.net)). mtools-2.5 is no
"official" GNU version yet but may become so
eventually.
DISCLAIMER:
This version does not intend to start an alternative
development path for mtools. Instead, it serves the
sole purpose to access remote DOS floppies with a
stable software package. As soon as the authors of
mtools-2.5 consider their package "stable" (they don't
do it right now), we'll merge the new functionality
into a single source tree -- if it is still of
interest. By now, there are two mtools versions around
:-(. Due to a particular project which is timing
critical, I'm afraid I can't wait.
INTRODUCTION:
To give you an idea how it works, here's my sample
/etc/mtools on my office RS/6000:
A /dev/fd0.18 12 80 2 18 # A: 3.5" DSHD
B /dev/fd0.9 12 80 2 9 # B: 3.5" DSDD
M DISPLAY:/dev/fd0H1440 12 80 2 18
N DISPLAY:/dev/fd0D720 12 80 2 9
As you may recognize, drives A: and B: represent the
standard 1.44 MB and 720 KB drives on AIX. M: and N:
are new. When mtools-2.0.7-r encounters the string
DISPLAY in the device name (as it was suggested by
David Niemi, thanks for this elegant hint), it
determines the remote host name by calling
getenv("DISPLAY"). All low level open(), close(),
read(), write(), and lseek() calls were replaced by
their corresponding counterparts from rtapelib.c and
rmt.h.
The usage of $DISPLAY does not mean that the useabilty
is restricted to X environments. It was developed for
use under X11 but you can set DISPLAY anytime.
The remote part of mtools-2.0.7-r is as known from GNU
tar-1.11.8 and GNU cpio-2.3. You have to install the
remote tape driver /etc/rmt on the remote system and
enable remote shell calls as usual. Please consult the
GNU tar and GNU cpio documentation if necessary.
PORTING:
I successfully compiled and tested mtools-2.0.7-r on
AIX 4.1.2 (GCC 2.6.1 and 2.7.0), HP/UX 9.01 (GCC
2.6.1), Irix 5.3 (GCC 2.7.0), SunOS 4.1 (GCC 2.5.8) and
Solaris 2.3 (GCC 2.6.1). The remote system was a
diskless Linux machine running kernel 1.2.13.
There are no OS-dependant compiler switches in the
Makefile (which is heavily under construction). I tried
to use only the defines which are automatically set by
the compiler itself. GNU cpp tells you about those
defines with the command
echo | /lib/cpp -dM
e.g. on my Linux machine:
hm@seneca # echo | /lib/cpp -dM
#define linux 1
#define i386 1
#define __ELF__ 1
#define unix 1
"gcc -dumpspecs" is usable too. Look in the
"*predefines" section for "-D" defines.
If you like to add support for another Unix version,
please don't add any -D defines in the Makefile; use
the architecture-specific defines your compiler already
makes available. You should spot the location of your
rsh (remsh) command and add an appropriate define in
rmt.h.
You'll find mtools-2.0.7-r in
ftp://ftp.ix.de/pub/ix/Linux/misc/mtools-2.0.7-r.tar.gz
and several mirroring sites. Please try it out. I'd
appreciate any bug reports, enhancement suggestions
etc.
Have fun!
--
Harald Milz (hm@ix.de) WWW: http://www.ix.de/ix/editors/hm.html
iX Multiuser Multitasking Magazine phone +49 (511) 53 52-377
Helstorfer Str. 7, D-30625 Hannover fax +49 (511) 53 52-361
Opinions stated herein are my own, not necessarily my employer's.
--
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