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-rw-r--r--share/man/man4/sa.424
1 files changed, 16 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/share/man/man4/sa.4 b/share/man/man4/sa.4
index 1d0a013..46b987e 100644
--- a/share/man/man4/sa.4
+++ b/share/man/man4/sa.4
@@ -60,12 +60,14 @@ driver is based around the concept of a
which is defined as the period between the time that a tape is
mounted, and the time when it is unmounted. Any parameters set during
a mount session remain in effect for the remainder of the session or
-until replaced. The tape can be unmounted, bringing the session to a
+until replaced.
+The tape can be unmounted, bringing the session to a
close in several ways. These include:
.Bl -enum
.It
Closing a `rewind device',
-referred to as sub-mode 00 below. An example is
+referred to as sub-mode 00 below.
+An example is
.Pa /dev/rsa0 .
.It
Using the MTOFFL
@@ -77,7 +79,8 @@ command of
.El
.Pp
It should be noted that tape devices are exclusive open devices, except in
-the case where a control mode device is opened. In the latter case, exclusive
+the case where a control mode device is opened.
+In the latter case, exclusive
access is only sought when needed (e.g., to set parameters).
.Sh SUB-MODES
Bits 0 and 1 of the minor number are interpreted as
@@ -95,7 +98,8 @@ No other head positioning takes place.
Any further reads or writes will occur directly after the
last read, or the written file mark.
.It 10
-A close will rewind the device. If the tape has been
+A close will rewind the device.
+If the tape has been
written, then a file mark will be written before the rewind is requested.
On completion of the rewind an unload command will be issued.
The device is unmounted.
@@ -117,7 +121,8 @@ written to the tape. One can never read or write
.Em part
of a record from tape (though you may request a larger block and read
a smaller record); nor can one read multiple blocks. Data from a
-single write is therefore read by a single read. The block size used
+single write is therefore read by a single read.
+The block size used
may be any value supported by the device, the
.Tn SCSI
adapter and the system (usually between 1 byte and 64 Kbytes,
@@ -125,13 +130,15 @@ sometimes more).
.Pp
When reading a variable record/block from the tape, the head is
logically considered to be immediately after the last item read,
-and before the next item after that. If the next item is a file mark,
+and before the next item after that.
+If the next item is a file mark,
but it was never read, then the next
process to read will immediately hit the file mark and receive an end-of-file notification.
.It Fixed block-size:
Data written by the user is passed to the tape as a succession of
fixed size blocks. It may be contiguous in memory, but it is
-considered to be a series of independent blocks. One may never write
+considered to be a series of independent blocks.
+One may never write
an amount of data that is not an exact multiple of the blocksize. One
may read and write the same data as a different set of records, In
other words, blocks that were written together may be read separately,
@@ -145,7 +152,8 @@ of 0. (As above, if the file mark is never read, it remains for the next
process to read if in no-rewind mode.)
.El
.Sh FILE MARK HANDLING
-The handling of file marks on write is automatic. If the user has
+The handling of file marks on write is automatic.
+If the user has
written to the tape, and has not done a read since the last write,
then a file mark will be written to the tape when the device is
closed. If a rewind is requested after a write, then the driver
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