nall@nu.cs.fsu.edu (John Nall) (07/26/89)
We have never had a need to acess our source code tape from AT&T, although we have had it for awhile. Now that the need has come up, there seems to be a phase error in reading it using 4.3bsd. Apparently the way AT&T writes their tape is incompatible with the way cpio works under 4.3bsd. So far as we can determine, the few options that cpio provides doesn't really help. Is this a known problem? If so, can anyone point us in the proper direction? Thanks for any suggestions John Nall Computer Science Department Florida State University Tallahassee, FL (nall@nu.cs.fsu.edu Arpa/Inet) p.s. If this is a dumb question, feel free to flame. But do it gently, and with direction...
gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) (07/26/89)
In article <219@loligo.cc.fsu.edu> nall@nu.cs.fsu.edu (John Nall) writes: >We have never had a need to acess our source code tape >from AT&T, although we have had it for awhile. Now that >the need has come up, there seems to be a phase error in >reading it using 4.3bsd. Apparently the way AT&T writes >their tape is incompatible with the way cpio works under >4.3bsd. I don't think 4.3BSD even HAS a "cpio" utility. In any event, you don't say exactly which release of what AT&T software you're having problems with, which makes it difficult to give a simple answer. Many earlier releases of UNIX System V, also UNIX System III, were written in the default machine-specific binary cpio format rather than the "portable ASCII header" format used for recent releases. If you have a tape written in binary cpio format from a machine of opposite "Endianness", it is unreadable by a stock "cpio" utility on your system. This is typically reported as "out of phase -- get help" or some other such useless diagnostic. Most AT&T cpio tapes use 5120-byte blocking, for which you must specify the -B option when reading via cpio. In case it's a "portable ASCII header" format tape, you also need to specify the -c option. Also note that some older releases were actually multi-file tapes, with each tape file being a separate cpio archive, and on the binary distribution tapes some of the tape files are just executable binaries or raw disk images.
chet@kiwi.CWRU.EDU (Chet Ramey) (07/27/89)
In article <10608@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes: >I don't think 4.3BSD even HAS a "cpio" utility. AT&T has donated cpio to Berkeley; it appears in the 4.3-tahoe release (/usr/src/bin/cpio). This version is #ident 1.30.1.11 and is dated 1/11/86. Chet Ramey Chet Ramey "We are preparing to think about contemplating Network Services Group, CWRU preliminary work on plans to develop a chet@cwjcc.INS.CWRU.Edu schedule for producing the 10th Edition of the Unix Programmers Manual." -- Andrew Hume
heins@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Leeland Heins) (07/27/89)
In article <10608@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes: >In article <219@loligo.cc.fsu.edu> nall@nu.cs.fsu.edu (John Nall) writes: >I don't think 4.3BSD even HAS a "cpio" utility. 4.3BSD-Tahoe (haven't looked at the older 4.3 distribution tapes) definitely includes source code for cpio, which I stumbled across the other day while digging through the source directories. Wheris on our machine reports it as being located in /usr/src/bin/cpio, and /bin/cpio. The man page is dated March 29, 1988, and the source code is marked "(c) 1988 AT&T ... THIS IS UNPUBLISHED PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE OF AT&T". //|||\\ "Attack of the killer Lee Heins, EXNET Programmer //-O-O-\\ mutant techno-hippies Iowa State U. Extension || v || from Hell" heins@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu || === || ...!hplabs!hp-lsd!atanasoff!heins || --- || /// `|' \\\ Disclaimer: I speak for myself only.