Re: Issues with lseek(2) on a block device

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Sat, Feb 24, 2024 at 04:28:28PM -0500, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
 > > Hello, thanks to everyone who responded with their suggestions. Using
 > > various non-portable ioctls I can device size on most platforms, for
 > > both block and raw devices.
 > > 
 > > This is more convoluted than a single lseek() call, but it is what it
 > > is. If anyone wants to do something similar, then the following example
 > > can give you a good start.
 > 
 > Probably not a good idea to start with lseek() because if you _do_
 > encounter a tape device, seeking to SEEK_END could take you an extremely
 > long time.

Also there at least used to be tapes where if you spun them all the
way to the end you'd unthread the tape onto the take-up spindle and
have to take it out and fix it.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost