2 - loaderinfo: Print RequestSense information if an operation fails.
3 - loaderinfo: Print all information from the Device Configuration Page.
4 - mtx: Fix problems with a lot of loaders determining the number of elements.
5 - mtx: Implement Previous command.
6 - mtx: Fix bugs in Last command.
7 - scsieject: New tool that handles start/stop, load/unload.
8 - tapeinfo: Fix inconsistencies in output.
9 - Fix timeout handling on Linux.
10 - Merge in fixes from the Debian and FreeBSD distributions.
13 - Add support for Microsoft Windows.
14 - Add support for Sony VGP-XL1B(2) Media Changer.
15 Thanks to Will (nodenet at hotmail dot com)
16 - Add build support for Microsoft Windows using MinGW native and Linux
18 - Add build support for Microsoft Windows using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
19 - Add support for building on x86_64.
20 - Add more debugging information.
21 - Eliminate compiler warnings.
24 - Cleaned up scsi_linux.c a little to eliminate around 40 lines of code.
25 - Change to using SG_IO ioctl rather than write-read interface. This
26 should make us a little safer, as well as (on 2.6.x) letting us issue SCSI
27 commands to regular block devices as well as to /dev/sgXX devices.
28 WARNING: Can cause the system to *CRASH* if the SCSI device is in use, due
29 to brokenness inside the Linux kernel! It's always preferable to use the
30 /dev/sgXX device, which has specialness in its buffer handling that bypasses
31 some of the brokenness elsewhere in the SCSI subsystem.
32 - Check SG version before using SG_IO interface, so that if we're run on a
33 Linux 2.2 system and we were compiled on Linux 2.4 or above,
34 - If a tape is in the drive, make tapeinfo print out its partition info. Seems
35 to work on my DAT drive, anyhow (shrug).
36 - Minor cleanups in mtxl.c (other cleanups necessary in tapeinfo and etc.).
39 - Forgot about 8 bytes for header
40 - Handle pedantic loader whose firmware writer spends too much time
41 parsing phrases in the SCSI spec and not enough time in the
45 - The You Gotta Be F'ing Kidding Release (see rant on mailing list)
46 - Added AIX support with http://fz.eryx.net/aix/ GSC driver, courtesy
48 - Make __WEIRD_CHAR_SUPPRESS the default to stop barcode garbling
49 - Fix core dump on invalid inputs in mtx.c
50 - Add retry with bigger ALLOCATION_LENGTH if
51 BYTE_COUNT_OF_REPORT_AVAILABLE is > than our original estimate. (see rant
53 - Shut up the low-level SCSI sg_read and sg_write routines, which were poofting
54 all over the place on innocuous things like no EAAP.
57 - The I-Need-A-Job Release (see http://badtux.org) :-}
58 - Change Makefile so that it works w/systems whose 'install' program
59 accepts only one argument. That's it.
60 - Uncomment the Exabyte hack in the drive parsing code so that it works
61 with ATL loaders again.
62 - Add hack for ATL stacked loaders to keep them from reporting ghost slots
65 - Forward-ported the ATL/Exabyte patches from mtx 1.2
66 - Added progress indicator to 'tapeinfo' for DAT drives. (PLEASE TEST)
67 - Purged a few more estinc.com out of the documentation, point to bru.com.
70 - Reversed James' long descriptor patch until can figure out what's wrong with
72 - Fixed some debug declarations, courtesy of Kevin Wang.
73 - Point COMPATIBILITY file at mtx.sourceforge.net.
76 - Merged Makefile changes from mtx-1.2 code
77 - Changes from James Dugal to get all info for newer loaders, fix debugging
80 - add an Exchange command
83 - New Linux SCSI subsystem interface for 2.4 kernels, ripped boldly
84 from sgtools by Doug Gilbert
85 - mtx 'next' now skips blank slots, courtesy of Christopher McCrory
86 - mtx 'unload' now prints an error message telling you that you need to
87 eject the tape in the drive prior to unloading it, under certain
89 - Started work on 'nsmhack' for controlling NSM jukeboxes.
90 - copy_barcode was off by one.
91 - 'position to element' command now added, courtesy of Mahlon Stacy
94 - Some Solaris fixes, courtesy of Matt Ward
95 - Fix URL in .spec file
98 - Fix so it'll work if 0 is result of SCSI open (e.g., in cron jobs on Linux)
99 - Move changelog to end of .spec file for easier reading
100 - Added a bit of text to beginning of COMPATIBILITY file
103 - Fixed some autoloader bugs w/autoloaders that don't report an arm.
104 - Fixed barcode backoff.
105 - Added "nobarcode" option
106 - Increased timeout for 'mtx inventory' to 30 minutes
107 (note: may increase this even more if needed, please let me know!)
108 - Shortened timeout for 'mtx inquiry' to 30 seconds
109 - tapeinfo now prints SCSI ID/LUN info if available (only on Linux at the
111 - update documentation w/new email addresses, updated compile directions,
115 - Fix FreeBSD compile bugs
116 - Fix SGI compile bugs
117 - Add HP/UX port (I hope!), courtesy of William Smith.
118 - Re-wrote ReadElementStatus to make work for %!@# brain dead firmware that
119 reports non-existent drives (I hope!). Also has side-effect of now working
120 with multiple-arm libraries (though it only sees first arm!).
121 - Cleaned up all -Wall messages.
122 - Cleaned up Linux Sparc, installs loaderinfo.1, courtesy of Matt Dainty.
123 - tapeinfo now reports status of CheckUnitReady.
124 - tapeinfo no longer puts out Block Position if CheckUnitReady says 'no'.
125 - tapeinfo now puts out Density Code and Medium Type/Not Loaded (modification
126 of patches sent in by Bob Rahe)
129 - Added a GNU autoconf Makefile.in (still provide a Makefile for your use)
130 *WARNING* autoconf is not yet working on all supported OS's! You may need
131 to do the old-fashioned 'edit Makefile' bit!
132 - Changed mtx.h and mtxl.c to include and define various things based upon
133 what features autoconf detected (e.g., if 'camlib.h', use FreeBSD-style
134 'cam', if 'scsi/sg.h' use Linux-style 'sg', etc.). If I ever port to a
135 Unix that has same SCSI interface as one of the existing ports, autoconf
136 will handle it without me having to add another set of #if's or #ifdefs.
137 - Went ahead and tossed mtxctl into contrib.
138 - In 'tapeinfo', skip \0 characters in serial numbers (some use \0
139 terminator, some do not, skip it if this one does).
140 - in 'tapeinfo', dump out the block position and (if at BOP) the "BOP: Yes"
141 flag. Also dump out other info such as block limits.
142 - Put file 'sparc-patch1' contributed by Chaskiel M Grundman, and applied
144 - Added tapeinfo.py to 'contrib' directory
145 - Updated mtx.py in 'contrib' directory
146 - Created 'loaderinfo' program to report some misc. info about loaders.
147 - Created 'scsitape' program so that I don't have to keep messing with
148 #@$%@! tape ioctls on the various Unixes that I'm porting tape software
149 to. (But see the warnings!).
150 - Applied the Solaris patch to the read_element_status command (sigh).
151 - Added timeout adjustment to the SCSI subsystem.
152 - WARNING: DIGITAL UNIX AND VMS ARE PROBABLY IRREPERABLY BROKEN, due to the
153 timeout changes to the SCSI subsystem. If anybody wishes to fix them,
154 feel free to send me patches.
155 - added contrib program "mtx-changer" (an Amanda tape changer script for
156 ?Solaris? that uses mtx rather than stc)
157 - Jiggered Linux SCSI module for smarter error conditions handling (there are
158 some error conditions that are normal for READ of tape drives).
159 - Added contrib program "config_sgen_solaris.sh" which should ease
160 setting up the 'sgen' driver on Solaris 8 (still no easy Solaris 7 or
164 - Added FAQ and COMPATIBILITY (feel free to send me patches to these files!)
166 - Added serial number to 'tapeinfo' output.
167 - Fixed stupid syntax error in mtx.c (compiled with gcc, not with others!)
168 - Fixed spec file for building rpms (maybe).
169 - Added an 'erase' command (undocumented) for use on Linux for doing
170 short erases on tapes (the Linux device driver defaults to a long erase).
171 - Made mtx inventory return an error code if the inventory
172 fails, so that we can wait for inventory to be completed at system
173 startup for libraries that auto-inventory (sigh).
176 - Added an 'eject' command that, if directed to a tape drive, will eject the
177 tape, and for some autoloaders, if directed to LUN 1, will eject the entire
179 - Fixed the 'transfer' command to be 1 based rather than 0 based (sigh)
180 - Now properly reports bar code for the tape that's in the tape drive.
181 - Added some miscellaneous Python and Perl scripts to 'contrib'. Thanks
182 to Frank Samuelson for the Perl scripts.
185 - Spec file has been changed to use the "portable" patch supplied by Red
186 Hat so it should work on Linux Alpha and Linux SPARC too... maybe...
187 - Now will accept 4-byte element status for most element types, despite fact
188 that these don't comply with SCSI standards :-(. This should make many
189 older changers work, including HP optical changers.
190 - Fixed PeripheralDeviceType table, courtesy of Rob Turk.
191 - Now looks for CHANGER environment variable if a device is not specified
192 on the command line. If can't find CHANGER, then tries TAPE environment
194 - Properly sets TransportElementAddress in the CDB for the MOVE MEDIUM command
195 with what was discovered via the READ_ELEMENT_STATUS command, rather
196 than setting them to zero (SCSI spec says that zero should be the default
197 arm, but at least one changer out there didn't like it).
198 - Added a '--version' command (sigh).
199 - Added an 'inventory' command for Breece Hill libraries that don't
200 automatically do an inventory at powerup.
203 - Fixed problem w/single drive Exabyte 220 reporting element status data for
205 - some general cleanup in the barcode fallback code (what a cruft!). Discovered
206 that ADIC DAT AUTOCHANGER does not work w/mtx because it produces
207 gibberish (will apparently only produce one element status page per request).
208 - Fixed the RPM .spec file to have updated file locations, doc locations.
209 - Fixed MoveMedium to say 'Output' for direction, to make it work with
211 - Some changes to the Solaris low-level module to report more errors (though
212 it still doesn't work as well as the Linux low-level module). Should now
213 work properly with Solaris 2.6/7/8. (Solaris changes courtesy of Richard
214 Fish of Enhanced Software Technologies).
217 - Fixed 'eepos' stuff to use | rather than || (whoops!)
218 - Accept a 4-byte element descriptor for the robot arm for certain older
222 - Added 'noattach' command. If on command line prior to other commands, forces
223 them to use the regular SCSI changer API rather than the _ATTACHED API,
224 no matter what the _ATTACHED bit in the Inquiry page said.
225 - Created 'tapeinfo' program.
228 - Major overhaul of element guts to dynamically allocate the arrays
229 using the result of a MODE_SENSE on the Element Address Assignment
230 Page. If mtx 1.2.3 works for you and mtx 1.2.4 does NOT work for you,
231 please un-comment the '#define DEBUG_MODE_SENSE' in file 'mtxl.c' and
232 EMAIL me the results.
235 - Fixed the source storage element number stuff (again, sigh)
236 - Because of above fix, 'next' etc. ought to work right again.
239 - Fixed that it was saying everything was an Import/Export element (oops!)
240 - Properly update the Import/Export element count.
243 - Now explicitly output that a Storage element is in fact an Import/Export
245 - Added 'transfer' command to transfer between two Storage elements (so that
246 you can get a tape to an Import/Export element.
247 - Added 'eepos' command for controlling tray retraction on the Breecehill
248 import/export trays. (Works with "load" and "unload" commands too, though
249 that is not documented on "mtx -h").
252 - Re-numbered now that Leonard has asked me to take over maintenance of the
254 - Temporarily treat Import/Export elements the same as Storage elements. Need
255 to fix this eventually so that the GUI knows what kind of element we're
257 - Removed quotes from the source element # to make it easier to parse
258 from Perl or Python (just do a split on spaces).
259 - Added sample program, 'mam2debug', showing how to use mtxl library for
260 your own programs (this happens to dump the Exabyte Mammoth 2's internal
261 debug buffer to a file, using the Mammoth2-specific SCSI commands to do so).
264 - Whoops, report logical rather than physical when I have to scan for
268 - Update comment to reflect mtxl 1.4.6 stuff :-).
269 - Fix the part of the code that scans for open slots as sources for media.
272 - Don't use _ATTACHED interface if it reports itself as a Medium Changer!
275 - Changed "whoops" compile error on Linux (teach me to release w/o testing on
276 the most popular platform!)
277 - Changed declarations to remove compile-time warnings.
280 - Added support for FreeBSD. (uses pass device, NOT native FreeBSD ch device).
281 - Change all 'int' DeviceFD to DEVICE_TYPE DeviceFD. Note that SGI and FreeBSD
282 use a struct * to access the CAM SCSI layer, rather than a file fd.
283 - Fixed goof where I'd hard-wired max # of elements to 127 for testing
284 purposes (it should be sum of MAX_STORAGE_ELEMENTS + MAX_TRANSFER_ELEMENTS
285 + MAX_TRANSPORT_ELEMENTS from mtx.h -- change those if you need more
286 elements, bearing in mind that the code for ReadElementStatus in
287 mtxl.c maxes out at 255 elements unless you fix that too).
288 - Cleaned some cruft out of the MOVE_MEDIUM code.
289 - Must have GNU Make to process Makefile. In reality, I don't know of
290 any machine where we voluntarily use the native 'make' command, because
291 a) there's a half dozen native 'make' all with their own perverted
292 syntaxes, and b) most of them are brain dead beyond belief.
295 - Do an INQUIRY prior to doing a MOVE_MEDIUM or READ_ELEMENT_STATUS so that I
296 can detect the MChanger bit and use MOVE_MEDIUM_ATTACHED or
297 READ_ELEMENT_STATUS_ATTACHED commands instead.
298 - Successfully tested with dual drives!
299 - first, next, last now working
301 - Created a 'make install', edit Makefile to alter destinations.
304 - Found the problem with the DAT changer! It was burping on the
305 'bar code' bit... so I intercept that sense key, re-issue w/out the
306 'bar code' bit, and success!
307 - Added a 'TODO' file...
310 - Added 'invert' qualifier to 'load' and 'unload' commands to invert
311 the media (for HP optical jukeboxes). Type './mtx' by itself to
313 - Figured out why my code wasn't properly detecting errors --
314 turns out the 'sg' device can return ok
315 status even when there is sense data to be reported!
316 - Still to fix: *still* isn't working right with my Seagate
317 6-tape DDS-4 DAT changer... also need to put the
318 second drive into the Exabyte 220 to make sure the dual-drive stuff
322 - Have now tested the barcode (volume tag) stuff. It works! (Well, there was
323 an index-by-one problem that I had to squash, but after that...)
324 - Changed to use SCSI Generic device API on Linux rather than
325 SCSI_IOCTL_SEND_COMMAND API, which cut things off at 4095 bytes on i386
327 - Added a bunch of debugging output that needs to be ripped out :-(.
328 Make sure you remove the -DDEBUG from the Makefile, and probably
329 -DLONG_PRINT_REQUEST_SENSE too (unless you LIKE sense results that make
331 - Still have annoying bug on Linux of only reading 1st 16 bytes of sense
332 data. Alas, this appears to be a problem in the Linux 2.2 kernel, not in
333 anything that we're doing :-(. Hmm... cdrecord has the same problem, Mr.
334 Schilling says he's been saying it's a problem since 1997. Sigh.
335 - Still need to test the dual-drive stuff!
338 - Hacked in the barcode (volume tag) stuff. NEED SOMEONE TO TEST
340 - started issuing redundant initial READ_ELEMENT_STATUS with Allocation Length
341 of 8 in order to get a BYTE_COUNT_OF_REPORT_AVAILABLE in order to calculate a
342 better Allocation Length for the "real" READ_ELEMENT_STATUS. Trying to send a
343 query to a small 6-tape changer with an Allocation Length suited for a
344 200-element tape library was resulting in some errors and lockups on the
345 part of the tape changer device.
346 - first, last, next, previous are STILL broken. Sorry :-(.
350 - Changed many output messages to make them more easily parsed by
351 scripts written in awk/perl/python
352 - Extracted out a library of SCSI tape library routines usable by "C"
353 programs (must be GPL'ed). Extensive re-arranging of code.
354 - Added support for multiple drives.
355 - Started adding support for tape changers that use the "MCHangr"
356 bit rather than a separate ID or LUN.
357 - Increased limits so we could deal with LARGE tape libraries.
358 - Started adding support for barcode readers in said tape libraries
359 - broke first, last, next, previous. Sorry :-(.
360 - Added ability to chain commands on command line. Thus could say 'mtx -f
361 /dev/sg4 unload 4 0 load 7 0' to unload a tape from drive 0 and load the
362 tape in slot 7 into drive 0.