This guide documents OpenVault release 1.5 running on IRIX operating systems and on SGI ProPack for Linux.
OpenVault is a package of mediation software that helps other applications manage removable media:
This facility can support a wide range of removable media libraries, as well as a variety of drives interfaced to these libraries.
The modular design of OpenVault eases the task of adding support for new robotic libraries and drives.
User interfaces are provided by OpenVault client applications, which perform I/O to drives using standard system facilities after OpenVault has mounted and loaded media for the application.
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.
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.
The following is an overview of the material in this guide:
Chapter 1, “OpenVault Overview”, contains a thumbnail sketch of components.
Chapter 2, “Common Implementation Issues”, covers topics you should know about before constructing an OpenVault control program.
Chapter 3, “Abstract Library Interface (ALI) Language”, describes the language used for library control programs.
Chapter 4, “Programming a Library Control Program (LCP)”, offers a tutorial introduction to creating a library control program.
Chapter 5, “Abstract Drive Interface (ADI) Language”, describes the language used for drive control programs.
Chapter 6, “Programming a Drive Control Program (DCP)”, offers a tutorial introduction to creating a drive control program.
Appendix A, “Sample Implementations”, contains control program source code.
Appendix B, “Return Values and Ready States”, lists these by control program.
Appendix C, “LCP and DCP Syntax”, specifies control program syntax.
“Glossary” and index are included at the end.
The following documents contain additional information that may be helpful:
The OpenVault Application Programmer's Guide describes the client side of OpenVault, showing how applications can make OpenVault requests in a prescribed format.
The OpenVault Operator's and Administrator's Guide describes how to develop OpenVault applications and device support.
Release notes: On IRIX systems, you can view release notes by typing either grelnotes or relnotes at the command line. On SGI ProPack for Linux systems, see the documentation in /usr/share/doc/openvault-version.
You can obtain SGI documentation in the following ways:
See the SGI Technical Publications Library at http://docs.sgi.com. Various formats are available. This library contains the most recent and most comprehensive set of online books, release notes, man pages, and other information.
If it is installed on your SGI system, you can use InfoSearch, an online tool that provides a more limited set of online books, release notes, and man pages. With an IRIX system, select Help from the Toolchest, and then select InfoSearch. Or you can type infosearch on a command line.
You can also view man pages by typing man title on a command line.
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. | |
| 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. |
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