[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Can I make DOS-compiled pax or pdtar write RAW cpio or tar floppies?

pim@cti-software.nl (Pim Zandbergen) (12/10/89)

I have source to both PDTAR and PAX but have not yet attempted
to compile them under MS-DOS. Looking at the source, I suspect
the only thing these programs will be able to do is write
tar or cpio archive files on an MS-DOS filesystem.

I would prefer them to write RAW, non-filesystem floppies,
so I can read multivolume backups created on DOS,
on a *NIX system without using doscp or the like.

Is there any way I can accomplish this? 

Please bear in mind when replying, that my knowledge of
MS-DOS internals is almost zero.

-- 
Pim Zandbergen                           domain : pim@cti-software.nl
CTI Software BV                          uucp   : uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!ctisbv!pim
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km@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu (Ken Mitchum) (12/12/89)

>I have source to both PDTAR and PAX but have not yet attempted
>to compile them under MS-DOS. Looking at the source, I suspect
>the only thing these programs will be able to do is write
>tar or cpio archive files on an MS-DOS filesystem.
>
>I would prefer them to write RAW, non-filesystem floppies,
>so I can read multivolume backups created on DOS,
>on a *NIX system without using doscp or the like.
>
>Is there any way I can accomplish this? 

Yes. The MKS Toolkit includes a dos version of the Unix "dd" utility,
which can be used to redirect stdout to raw floppy. The only trick
is that when you use multiple disk types in the same drive, "dd" 
assumes that the floppy you are using as a raw device has the same
physical characteristics as the last floppy used in a file operation
on the same drive. I don't know if there is a free version of "dd"
for dos available, but the MKS version works nicely for this purpose.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Ken Mitchum MD  KY3B
   Decision Systems Labs
   University of Pittsburgh
   km@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu

walters@oksce1.okstate.edu (Harold G. Walters) (12/14/89)

PAX with the MSDOS patches I posted to comp.sources.bugs does RAW
nonfilesystem floppy reads and writes for compatability with UNIX.
It also can use the MSDOS filesystem.  It is also free.
For those of you who don't know PAX groks BOTH tar and cpio.

EXE's
	posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc
	available from simtel20
	available via anonymous ftp from 192.31.83.2 vms.ucc.okstate.edu
SRC
	pax source posted in comp.sources.unix (or comp.sources.misc??)
	patches to pax by the author in comp.sources.bugs
	my MSDOS patches in comp.sources.bugs
	already patched source from 192.31.83.2 vms.ucc.okstate.edu with ftp

PAX v2.0 is in currently in beta test and will be posted next year.




-- 
Harold G. Walters			walters@1.ce.okstate.edu
School of Civil Engineering		okstate!oksce1!walters
Oklahoma State University		"If all you have is a hammer, 
Stillwater, OK  74078			 everything looks like a nail".