Need Working mt Comand That Actually Gives Tapes Status Information

Like EVERY other UNIX/LINUX out there, we need a working 'mt' command that actually returns the status of the tape drive. 'mt status' should tell us that the tape drive is:

1) Loaded or Unloaded
2) Write protected or Not
3) Tape position (at beginning of tape, EOF, etc.)

These are extremely basic and NECESSARY requirements for a tape status command. One can NOT reliably, dependably, or robustly use a tape drive with out this basic information.
I first brought this BUG to IBM's attention in April 2014 via PMR: 89781,499,000. This PMR was closed as IBM refused to acknowledge the problem. I tried to work around the problem by writing my own C source to get the necessary information. In June 2014, this resulted in PMR: 29778,499,000 as the underlying system libraries don't fully support the tape drive. DCR MR0625141345 was created as a result of this PMR. I was told I could all IBM support and get status information on this DCR. This never worked as support had no clue what a DCR was. This resulted in 2 follow up PMR's: 63227,499,000 (December 2014) and 41928,499,000 (June 2015) in order to find out the status of the DCR.

In PMR 63227,499,000 a number of IBM people acknowledged this was a KNOWN problem and that it was past time for it to be fixed. In February 2015, I was told it would be worked on and I'd be contacted with in a week on the status of the problem resolution. Support closed this PRM saying I could call back and ask about this problem as a FITS instead of a DCR.

After not hearing anything about the status of the DCR/FITS, I called back, and again no one in support had ever heard of a DCR or FITS, so opened a new PRM to find out the status. According to the PRM notes, more behind the scenes discussions, which resulted in a 180 degree turn by IBM and that there is no bug. I should submit a RFE to get this obvious BUG corrected.
This is a well know BUG as extensive Google searches have turn up numerous AIX users posting about this problem and their frustration a not having a working 'mt status' command to properly use a tape drive.
If we were running RedHat Linux on this exact same hardware, there would not be a problem as it would simply work. Unfortunately, our core application only runs under AIX and not Linux.

P.S. How can anyone vote for or comment on this RFE if YOU are going to make it private. I don't see any option here to let ME make it public and I want it public.