Moving data from Xenix to Linux

[gritts]

I posted this on the Xenix newsgroup and thought I would repost it here for a different point of view...

Ok, here goes round two of my bouts with restoring tapes from a Xenix 2.3.4
system onto a Linux system. I have tried about 4 different methods to
backup the Xenix system but I can't seem to get very far. I'm wondering
if I have encountered "The Nightmare on Jumbo (tapedrive) Street" Below
are the results of my pains... Any suggestions? I must confess that I am
not to familiar with all the nifty tricks possible with tar, cpio and
dd. With that in mind, if possible, please give me an example to follow
along with. Thanks!!

John G.

Here is what I have tried thus far:

Attempt #1
Backup command entered on Xenix - tar cvf /dev/rjt0 /usr/mic
Restore command entered on Linux - tar tvf /dev/ht0
Resulting message:
tar: This does not look like a tar archive
tar: Skipping to next header
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

Attempt #2
Backup command entered on Xenix - tar cvfb /dev/rjt0 2 /usr/mic
Restore command entered on Linux - tar tvfb /dev/ht0 2
Resulting message:
tar: This does not look like a tar archive
tar: Skipping to next header
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

Attempt #3
Backup command on Xenix - find ./usr/mic -print | cpio -oB >/dev/rjt0
Restore command on Linux - cpio -iBt </dev/ht0
Resulting output:
usr/mic/data
usr/mic/data/$$$TEMP.TMP
usr/mic/data/ACCT.DAT
usr/mic/data/ACRPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/ALLOWANC.DAT
usr/mic/data/ARCODS.DAT
usr/mic/data/CUSFIL.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 237568 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/DAYMSG.DAT
usr/mic/data/ESTDEF.DAT
usr/mic/data/ESTQHD.DAT
usr/mic/data/ESTQTE.DAT
usr/mic/data/EXTRADES.DAT
usr/mic/data/ICOMP.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 3072 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/ICUSFL.RPT
usr/mic/data/IFMT.DAT
usr/mic/data/IGMRPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/INCUSFIL.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 33792 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/INCUST.DAT
usr/mic/data/INROCUST.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 38912 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/INVCST.RPT
usr/mic/data/IORDER.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 30720 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/IORPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/IPART.DAT

Attempt #4
Backup command in Xenix - find ./usr/mic -print | cpio -o >/dev/rjt0
Restore command in Linux - cpio -it </dev/rjt0
Resulting output:
cpio: warning: skipped 98304 bytes of junk
usr/mic
usr/mic/data
usr/mic/data/$$$TEMP.TMP
usr/mic/data/ACCT.DAT
usr/mic/data/ACRPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/ALLOWANC.DAT
usr/mic/data/ARCODS.DAT
usr/mic/data/CUSFIL.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 231424 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/DAYMSG.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 3072 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/ESTDEF.DAT
usr/mic/data/ESTQHD.DAT
usr/mic/data/ESTQTE.DAT
usr/mic/data/EXTRADES.DAT
usr/mic/data/ICOMP.DAT
usr/mic/data/ICUSFL.RPT
usr/mic/data/IFMT.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 3072 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/IGMRPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/INCUSFIL.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 33792 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/INCUST.DAT
usr/mic/data/INROCUST.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 39936 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/INVCST.RPT
usr/mic/data/IORDER.DAT
cpio: warning: skipped 30720 bytes of junk
usr/mic/data/IORPT.DAT
usr/mic/data/IPART.DAT
Found end of tape. To continue, type device/file name when ready.

[nopun]

Of the two, I would have thought that cpio had the most chance of success, although it does not appear that Linux is too happy with the archives produced.
You could try compiling the GNU version of tar on your Xenix box. (is probably available for SCO, whether it would work on Xenix is another matter..).
I seem to remember that SCO has a form of tar called ptar, which conforms to the tar standard a bit better - is this available on Xenix?
Last idea... assuming that your Xenix machine is based on intel (or clone), you can get a SCO emulator (open source of course!) that can run SCO binaries in Linux (again not too sure if available specifically for Xenix).
Keep trying to think if you could do it with dd, but you would have to pack all the files first using something like tar......

Edit: is there no chance you could n/w the machines temporarily? ftp'ing the files would be a doddle.

[This message has been edited by nopun (edited 31 October 2000).]

[nopun]

Looks like the standard Gnu Tar will compile and work in Xenix (in theory). Get it from your local ftp mirror directory gnu/tar.