magtape device naming conventions

[Norm Seethoff]

We are wrestling with a common magtape device naming scheme which can be
used across all of our UN*X systems, independent of vendor.  It seems clear
that we need to retain the /dev/{mt mt0 mt4 mt8 mt12 rmt*} conventions
for compatibility with existing software.  What we would like to do,
however, is create a parallel naming convention which would even make
sense to novice users.

We are presently considering:

                                               Device Name
              Function
                                   Rewind On Close   No Rewind On Close

              1600  bpi buffered   /dev/mt1600       /dev/nmt1600

              1600  bpi raw        /dev/rmt1600      /dev/nrmt1600

              6250  bpi buffered   /dev/mt6250       /dev/nmt6250

              6250  bpi raw        /dev/rmt6250      /dev/nrmt6250
             
The use of "n" and "r" obviously overloads the letters.  One could
easily guess that "nrmt1600" was the nonrewinding buffered 1600 bpi
device, when in fact in the above scheme it also specifies raw I/O.

Can any of you with experience in this area offer suggestions?
We are very interested in what direction UN*X system vendors may be
taking, especially AT&T, SUN, and DEC.

Norm Seethoff
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
{decvax!microso | allegra | lbl-csam | uw-beaver}!fluke!norm