Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!pacbell!lll-winken!lll-crg.llnl.gov!hesh
From: hesh@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Chris Steinbroner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: allocate/deallocate command wanted
Message-ID: <30212@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>
Date: 8 Aug 89 17:08:48 GMT
References: <210024@speclab.bgp-usgs.gov> <5570256@hpfcdc.HP.COM>
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV
Reply-To: hesh@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Chris Steinbroner)
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lines: 34

rer@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Rob Robason) writes:
>> What happens if somone else writes to the tape while I am writing?
>> Roger N. Clark
>
>It seems like a spooling problem:  unfortunately the logical command
>name (mt) is already taken.  I know of no solution to this problem
>in any standards, though I agree it is a legitimate question.  One thought
>that comes to mind is a "lock and do" command that would lock a specific
>file (or group of files) and exec a shell to do the desired action.

i think the solution is easier than
that which rob proposed.  at a previous
place of employment, a command called
"tape" took a single argument which was
the name of the user to which the tape
drive(s) should be assigned (owned).
the modes of the drive are 600, so
that prevents general users from writing
to the tape drive.  when the user is done
with the drive, it is assigned to root.

of course, this will not prevent root
users from accessing the drive; but
you simply have to address this problem
with a policy: no user will access the
drive unless it is assigned to her.

this worked well in this environment,
especially considering the fact that
it allowed the administrators to "charge"
(yes, accounting) the user for the
use of the drive.

-- hesh