Re: [Cialug] mtx and stderr

[David Champion <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I know I sent this after 5pm on Friday... so I thought I'd re-post in 
case any of you have an idea on it.

-dc

David Champion wrote:

> I'm updating our backup script to accomodate working with a tape 
> changer (HP DAT 24x6). The commands I'm using to change tapes are:
>
> mtx -f /dev/sg1 status   # displays the changer status so I can tell 
> which tape is where...
>
> If it's the first day in the rotation, it loads the first tape with:
>
> mtx -f /dev/sg1 first
>
> ...otherwise, it just loads the next tape in the magazine with this :
>
> mtx -f /dev/sg1 next
>
> Problem is, when there's already a tape in the drive (the "data 
> transer element" in HP speak), it produces this message to stderr 
> (like if you do a mtx ... 2> error.txt) :
>
> "Unloading Data Transfer Element into Storage Element 1...done"
>
> IMHO, this message is just saying it's taking tape 1 out of the drive, 
> putting it back in slot 1 in the magazine, then loading the next tape 
> (2) into the drive. No error condition occurs, and it's ready to go... 
> so it shouldn't echo anything to stderr, right?
>
> I could alternatively have the script figure out what day of the week 
> it is, calculate what tape slot it should load for that day, and use 
> the mtx command "unload" and "load <x>"... that's a bit more work than 
> this should require.
>
> I'm thinking that this is a bug in the "mtx" command. The man page 
> doesn't have anything to say about errors.
>
> Anyone have any ideas about this?
>
> -dc



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