tk_scsiformat(8)					       Scsiinfo User's Guide						  tk_scsiformat(8)

NAME

       tk_scsiformat - low level format an scsi disk device with a nice user interface

SYNOPSIS

       tk_scsiformat [device]

DESCRIPTION

       Low  level formats the SCSI device identified by the scsi disk or generic scsi device node device.  You must be root to perform this opera-
       tion. When you do not specify a device, tk_scsiformat gives you a list to select a disk device from.

       tk_scsiformat is a Tcl/Tk user interface to scsiformat(8).

       You should read that manual page for the general operation of scsiformat.  All common X11 and Tcl/Tk options apply.

       By the nature of graphical user interfaces, there should not be much to explain here. All entry	fields	refer  directly  to  scsiformat(8)
       options.

       In  addition  to those, you are able to save your selections to be used as defaults for this device next time in a file /usr/lib/scsi/scsi-
       format.defs.*  by pressing the <Save Defaults> button. This is intended and very handy for formatting of removable medias.  Note,  however,
       that  tk_scsiformat is not as clever as scsiformat(8) (or even tries to be) to find if multiple ways to refer to the same scsi device (disk
       device, generic device).

       Furthermore, you can select (or enter freely) a command to automatically make a file system on the newly formatted disk.

       While formatting a nice completion bar is drawn. Alas, I could not really implement querying progress from a target device yet.

       The /usr/lib/scsi/tworands binary is used to calculate two random integers which is not supported by plain Tcl/Tk.

BUGS

       When not specifying a device to format, tk_scsiformat will prepare a list of disk devices to choose from. Alas, if a blocking format opera-
       tion is running on one of them, tk_scsiformat will block in a non interruptible disk wait sleep.

       Old status files in /tmp will confuse tk_scsiformat.  However, they are removed after 48 hours.

       Restrictions  of the SCSI_IOCTL_SEND_COMMAND ioctl(2) call for the sd(4) device make it impossible to issue a FORMAT_UNIT command with more
       than 4096 bytes of arguments. This could be avoided by using the proper generic scsi device /dev/sg* instead, at least where the kernel	is
       compiled to support it. Most of the time this is not needed though and thus I'm myself to lazy to do it.

FILES

       /usr/lib/scsi/tworands
       /usr/lib/scsi/scsiformat.defs.*
       /tmp/scsiformat.xx:xx:xx:xx:xxxxxxxx
       /dev/sd*
       /dev/sg*

SEE ALSO

       scsiformat(8), scsiinfo(8), scsi-config(8), fdisk(8), sd(4).

AUTHOR

       Michael Weller <eowmob@exp-math.uni-essen.de>

scsiinfo 1.7							  23 August 1997						  tk_scsiformat(8)