About This Guide

This guide documents OpenVault release 1.4 running on IRIX operating systems.

OpenVault is a package of mediation software that helps other applications manage removable media:

The OpenVault Infrastructure Programmer's Guide describes how to program the control program components that manage removable media drives and libraries. In OpenVault, the media library manager (MLM) fulfills requests from multiple client applications, directing media operations such as mount and unmount that are performed by control programs.

1. Intended Audience

This guide is intended for system programmers who are adding support for removable media libraries or drives. By conforming to the standard OpenVault infrastructure, developers can eliminate the need to write custom interfaces for each removable media library and drive in the marketplace.

2. What This Guide Contains

Here is an overview of the material in this guide:

3. Related Publications

The following documents contain additional information that may be helpful:

OpenVault Application Programmer's Guide 

Describes the client side of OpenVault, showing how applications can make OpenVault requests in a prescribed format.

OpenVault Operator's and Administrator's Guide 

Describes how to develop OpenVault applications and device support.

4. Obtaining Publications

To obtain SGI documentation, go to the SGI Technical Publications Library at http://techpubs.sgi.com.

5. Conventions

The following conventions are used throughout this document:

Convention 

Meaning

command 

This fixed-space font denotes literal items such as commands, files, routines, path names, signals, messages, and programming language structures.

manpage(x) 

Man page section identifiers appear in parentheses after man page names. The following list describes the identifiers:

1

User commands

1B

User commands ported from BSD

2

System calls

3

Library routines, macros, and opdefs

4

Devices (special files)

4P

Protocols

5

File formats

7

Miscellaneous topics

7D

DWB-related information

8

Administrator commands

Some internal routines (for example, the _assign_asgcmd_info() routine) do not have man pages associated with them.

variable 

Italic typeface denotes variable entries and words or concepts being defined.

user input 

This bold, fixed-space font denotes literal items that the user enters in interactive sessions. Output is shown in nonbold, fixed-space font.

[ ] 

Brackets enclose optional portions of a command or directive line.

... 

Ellipses indicate that a preceding element can be repeated.

6. Reader Comments

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