Can't cat tape- big blocks?

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <14585 at dog.ee.lbl.gov> torek at elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) writes:
-Basically, then, you have two choices:
- a) Throw a lot of code into the kernel to add `cooked tape devices',
-    somewhat like cooked ttys.  You will probably have to leave raw
-    tape devices in anyway, for tape exchange purposes.
- b) Leave the ugly semantics of 9-track tapes exposed through the raw
-    interface, and let those programs that deal with tapes, also deal
-    with the Outside World.
-For some reason, most people seem to go for choice (b).

I've used UNIX systems that implemented both.  The "cooked" tape device
was virtually never used.

I agree with the assessment that raw devices are not mere byte streams
and that record boundaries do matter for raw devices.