(fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

(fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[maximilian attems]

hello borislav,

may i forward you that *old* Debian kernel bug,
have seen you working on ide-tape:
http://bugs.debian.org/11922
no we don't carry any ide patches anymore.

maybe you've already fixed it in latest?

thanks

-- 
maks

----- Forwarded message from Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org> -----

Subject: Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:06:18 +0100
From: Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org>
To: 11922@bugs.debian.org

Hi,

This does still occur with 2.6.22; with a blank tape in my HP DDS-4 drive:

$ tar tzvf /dev/nst0
tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Input/output error
tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

Nothing gets logged anywhere, which fits the original bug description.

This is a well-known issue: see for example
http://www.sibbald.com/bacula/html-manual/Bacula_Console.html (search for
"blank tape").

Regards,

Stephen



-- 
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----- End forwarded message -----

Re: (fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[Borislav Petkov]

On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:22:06PM +0100, maximilian attems wrote:

(Added Bart to CC)

> hello borislav,
> 
> may i forward you that *old* Debian kernel bug,
> have seen you working on ide-tape:
> http://bugs.debian.org/11922
> no we don't carry any ide patches anymore.
> 
> maybe you've already fixed it in latest?
> 
> thanks
> 
> -- 
> maks
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org> -----
> 
> Subject: Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes
> Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:06:18 +0100
> From: Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org>
> To: 11922@bugs.debian.org
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This does still occur with 2.6.22; with a blank tape in my HP DDS-4 drive:
> 
> $ tar tzvf /dev/nst0
> tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Input/output error
> tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
> tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
> 
> gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
> tar: Child returned status 2
> tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
> 
> Nothing gets logged anywhere, which fits the original bug description.
> 
> This is a well-known issue: see for example
> http://www.sibbald.com/bacula/html-manual/Bacula_Console.html (search for
> "blank tape").
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Stephen
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-kernel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
> 
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----

Hi Maks,

we're currently in the process of aggressively cleaning up ide-tape. However,
this brings (almost) no functional changes to the driver and we haven't looked
at any bugs that might exist. Actually, I wanted to probe the community to see
whether anyone is using ide-tape at all, and if not, to remove it completely.

Since i don't have the hardware, i'm gonna have to ask you (or Stephen) to wait
until all changes have entered mainline and then to try to reproduce the bug again
after having enabled debugging (IDETAPE_DEBUG_LOG) and send me the syslog
output.

Thanks.

-- 
Regards/Gruß,
    Boris.

Re: (fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[Stephen Kitt]

Hi Boris,

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 22:28:35 +0100, Borislav Petkov <petkovbb@googlemail.com>
wrote:
> we're currently in the process of aggressively cleaning up ide-tape.
> However, this brings (almost) no functional changes to the driver and we
> haven't looked at any bugs that might exist. Actually, I wanted to probe
> the community to see whether anyone is using ide-tape at all, and if not,
> to remove it completely.
> 
> Since i don't have the hardware, i'm gonna have to ask you (or Stephen) to
> wait until all changes have entered mainline and then to try to reproduce
> the bug again after having enabled debugging (IDETAPE_DEBUG_LOG) and send
> me the syslog output.

There's been a misunderstanding somewhere along the line: Debian bug #11922
(http://bugs.debian.org/11922), which I responded to, isn't related to
ide-tape - the original bug reporter and myself use(d) SCSI tape drives.

Regards,

Stephen

Re: (fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[James Bottomley]

On Mon, 2008-02-04 at 22:28 +0100, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:22:06PM +0100, maximilian attems wrote:
> 
> (Added Bart to CC)
> 
> > hello borislav,
> > 
> > may i forward you that *old* Debian kernel bug,
> > have seen you working on ide-tape:
> > http://bugs.debian.org/11922
> > no we don't carry any ide patches anymore.
> > 
> > maybe you've already fixed it in latest?
> > 
> > thanks
> > 
> > -- 
> > maks
> > 
> > ----- Forwarded message from Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org> -----
> > 
> > Subject: Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes
> > Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:06:18 +0100
> > From: Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org>
> > To: 11922@bugs.debian.org
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > This does still occur with 2.6.22; with a blank tape in my HP DDS-4 drive:
> > 
> > $ tar tzvf /dev/nst0
> > tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Input/output error

That's a SCSI tape, not an IDE one.  I cc'd the SCSI list

James

> > tar: At beginning of tape, quitting now
> > tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
> > 
> > gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file
> > tar: Child returned status 2
> > tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
> > 
> > Nothing gets logged anywhere, which fits the original bug description.
> > 
> > This is a well-known issue: see for example
> > http://www.sibbald.com/bacula/html-manual/Bacula_Console.html (search for
> > "blank tape").
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > Stephen
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-kernel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
> > 
> > 
> > ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> Hi Maks,
> 
> we're currently in the process of aggressively cleaning up ide-tape. However,
> this brings (almost) no functional changes to the driver and we haven't looked
> at any bugs that might exist. Actually, I wanted to probe the community to see
> whether anyone is using ide-tape at all, and if not, to remove it completely.
> 
> Since i don't have the hardware, i'm gonna have to ask you (or Stephen) to wait
> until all changes have entered mainline and then to try to reproduce the bug again
> after having enabled debugging (IDETAPE_DEBUG_LOG) and send me the syslog
> output.
> 
> Thanks.
> 

Re: (fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[Kai Makisara]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, James Bottomley wrote:

> 
> On Mon, 2008-02-04 at 22:28 +0100, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> > On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:22:06PM +0100, maximilian attems wrote:
> > 
> > (Added Bart to CC)
> > 
> > > hello borislav,
> > > 
> > > may i forward you that *old* Debian kernel bug,
> > > have seen you working on ide-tape:
> > > http://bugs.debian.org/11922
> > > no we don't carry any ide patches anymore.
> > > 
> > > maybe you've already fixed it in latest?
> > > 
> > > thanks
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > maks
> > > 
> > > ----- Forwarded message from Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org> -----
> > > 
> > > Subject: Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes
> > > Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:06:18 +0100
> > > From: Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org>
> > > To: 11922@bugs.debian.org
> > > 
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > This does still occur with 2.6.22; with a blank tape in my HP DDS-4 drive:
> > > 
> > > $ tar tzvf /dev/nst0
> > > tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Input/output error
> 
> That's a SCSI tape, not an IDE one.  I cc'd the SCSI list
> 
This is not a bug, it is a feature. There is _nothing_ on the tape and if 
you try to read something, you get an error. The same thing applies to 
reading after the last filemark. Note that after writing a filemark at the 
beginning of the tape, the situation is different. Now there is a file and 
the normal EOF semantics apply although there still is no data.

I admit that the error return could be more descriptive but the st driver 
tries to be compatible with other Unices.

The behavior can be changed if Linux does not match other Unices. I don't 
remember if I have tested just this with other Unices. I will try to test 
this with Tru64 tomorrow. If anyone has data on other Unices, it would be 
helpful.

-- 
Kai

Re: (fwd) Bug#11922: I/O error on blank tapes

[Kai Makisara]

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Kai Makisara wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, James Bottomley wrote:
> 
> > 
> > On Mon, 2008-02-04 at 22:28 +0100, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> > > On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:22:06PM +0100, maximilian attems wrote:
> > > 
> > > (Added Bart to CC)
> > > 
> > > > hello borislav,
> > > > 
...
> > > > This does still occur with 2.6.22; with a blank tape in my HP DDS-4 drive:
> > > > 
> > > > $ tar tzvf /dev/nst0
> > > > tar: /dev/nst0: Cannot read: Input/output error
> > 
> > That's a SCSI tape, not an IDE one.  I cc'd the SCSI list
> > 
> This is not a bug, it is a feature. There is _nothing_ on the tape and if 
> you try to read something, you get an error. The same thing applies to 
> reading after the last filemark. Note that after writing a filemark at the 
> beginning of the tape, the situation is different. Now there is a file and 
> the normal EOF semantics apply although there still is no data.
> 
> I admit that the error return could be more descriptive but the st driver 
> tries to be compatible with other Unices.
> 
> The behavior can be changed if Linux does not match other Unices. I don't 
> remember if I have tested just this with other Unices. I will try to test 
> this with Tru64 tomorrow. If anyone has data on other Unices, it would be 
> helpful.
> 
None of our Tru64 boxes have a user-accessible tape drive any more. 
However, I have been able to test with a Solaris box. The behavior there 
matches the Linux behavior: blank tape -> i/o error when trying to read.

-- 
Kai