The tape-read Program
Development Timeline

Version 1.2

Released December 2012

After some operational experience in using the tape-read program to process .tap files, the operations staff noticed that the program would occasionally terminate due to an invalid record length. Version 1.2 corrects this by ignoring any record length fields of 0x80000000.

Version 1.2 Action Requests

• AR 263, Allow tape-read to ignore additional invalid record lengths.

Version 1.2 CMMi paperwork

• Check List Document
• Requirements Document
• Design Document
• Test Report Document
• Release Document

Version 1.0

Released August 2012

The initial release of the tape-read program was motivated by a desire to replace a VMS-specific tape reading program which had been written in Fortran and that couldn't be maintained because the source code had been misplaced. Requirement creep then resulted in the tape-read program becoming capable of reading from .tap files as well as from magnetic tapes, and capable of generating statistical reports on the contents and quality of a group of .tap files.

Version 1.0 Action Requests

• AR 202, Correct tape-read problems with parity errors in first file
• AR 161, Replace existing OpenVMS tape read software

John Kodis, john.kodis@nasa.gov, 2012