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GNU Info File
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1995-06-17
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This is Info file tar.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.61 from the input
file tar.texinfo.
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* tar: (tar). Making tape (or disk) archives.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This file documents GNU `tar', a utility used to store, backup, and
transport files.
Copyright (C) 1992, 1994, 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Foundation.
File: tar.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
GNU tar
*******
This file documents `tar', a utility used to store, backup, and
transport files. It is a rudimentary documentation for the GNU tape
(or disk) archiver. It covers the release 1.11.8.
This document has been quickly assembled from random notes and
sources. I will of course accept documentation bug reports, but please
do not torture yourself into systematically reporting all inadequacies
for unrevised nodes.
* Menu:
* Introduction::
* Tutorial::
* Invoking tar::
* Basic tar Operations::
* Specifying Names to tar::
* Being Careful::
* Format Control::
* Media::
* Backups and Restoration::
* Date input formats::
* Archive Format::
* Index::
-- The Detailed Node Listing --
Introduction
* What tar Does::
* Authors::
* Bug reports::
* Support::
Support considerations
* Stability::
* Rewriting::
* Why maintaining::
* MSDOS::
Tutorial Introduction to `tar'
* How to Create Archives::
* How to List Archives::
* How to Extract Members from an Archive::
* How to Add Files to Existing Archives::
* How to Delete Members from Archives::
How to Create Archives
* Creating Archives of Files bis::
* Using tar in Verbose Mode bis::
* How to Archive Directories::
* Creating an Archive of a Subdirectory bis::
* Compare bis::
* Using Compare from the Superior Directory bis::
How to Archive Directories
* Creating an Archive of a Subdirectory bis::
How to List Archives
* Listing files in an archive bis::
* Getting Additional File Information bis::
* List A Specific File in an Archive bis::
* Listing the Contents of a Stored Directory ter::
How to Extract Members from an Archive
* Extracting Files bis::
* Extracting Files from an Archive ter::
* Extracting Specific Files ter::
* Extracting Directories ter::
How to Add Files to Existing Archives
* Append bis::
* Update bis::
* Concatenate bis::
Invoking GNU `tar'
* Synopsis::
* Option Styles::
* Options::
Many Styles for Options
* Mnemonic Options::
* Short Options::
* Old Options::
* Mixing Styles::
All Available Options
* Device Options::
* Blocking Options::
* Classification Options::
Basic `tar' Operations
* Creating a New Archive::
* Adding to an Existing Archive::
* Updating an Archive::
* Combining Archives::
* Removing Archive Members::
* Listing Archive Members::
* Extracting Archive Members::
* Comparing Archives Members with Files::
* Matching Format Parameters::
Extracting Archive Members
* Archive Reading Options::
* File Writing Options::
* Scarce Disk Space::
Specifying Names to `tar'
* Changing the Archive Name::
* Characteristics::
* Selection Options::
Selecting Files by Characteristic
* Reading Names from a File::
* Excluding Some Files::
* Operating Only on New Files::
* Crossing Filesystem Boundaries::
Local file selection
* Changing Directory::
* Absolute File Names::
Being Even More Careful
* Documentation::
* Checking Progress::
* Interactive Operation::
* Write Verification::
* Comparing::
* Portability::
* Write Protection::
Making `tar' Archives More Portable
* Portable Names::
* Symbolic Links::
* Old V7 and POSIX::
* Checksumming Problems::
Controlling the Archive Format
* Attributes Options::
* Type Options::
* Compression::
* Special Options for Archiving::
* Archive Structure::
* Modifiers Options::
Using Less Space through Compression
* Compressed Archives::
* Dealing with Compressed Archives::
* Sparse Files::
Tapes and Other Archive Media
* Device::
* Blocking::
* Many::
* Using Multiple Tapes::
* Archive Label::
Blocking
* Format Variations::
* Blocking Factor::
Many archives on one tape
* Tape Positioning::
* mt::
Using Multiple Tapes
* Multi-Volume Archives::
* Tape Files::
Performing Backups and Restoring Files
* Full Dumps::
* Inc Dumps::
* incremental and listed-incremental::
* Backup Levels::
* Backup Parameters::
* Scripted Backups::
* Scripted Restoration::
Setting Parameters for Backups and Restoration
* backup-specs example::
* Script Syntax::
Date input formats
* General date syntax::
* Calendar date item::
* Time of day item::
* Timezone item::
* Day of week item::
* Relative item in date strings::
* Pure numbers in date strings::
* Authors of getdate::
Format of `tar' archives
* Standard::
* Extensions::
* cpio::
File: tar.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Tutorial, Prev: Top, Up: Top
Introduction
************
This chapter introduces of a few words which will recur all over
this manual, like "archive", "member", "name", "unpack", etc. It then
explains who wrote GNU `tar' and its documentation, and says where to
send bug reports or comments.
* Menu:
* What tar Does::
* Authors::
* Bug reports::
* Support::
File: tar.info, Node: What tar Does, Next: Authors, Prev: Introduction, Up: Introduction
What `tar' Does
===============
The `tar' program is used to create and manipulate `tar' archives.
An "archive" is a single file which contains within it the contents of
many files. In addition, the archive identifies the names of the
files, their owner, and so forth. (Archives record access permissions,
user and group, size in bytes, and last modification time. Some
archives also record the file names in each archived directory, as well
as other file and directory information.)
The files inside an archive are called "members". Within this
manual, we use the term "file" to refer only to files accessible in the
normal ways (by `ls', `cat', and so forth), and the term "members" to
refer only to the members of an archive. Similarly, a "file name" is
the name of a file, as it resides in the filesystem, and a "member
name" is the name of an archive member within the archive.
Initially, `tar' archives were used to store files conveniently on
magnetic tape. The name `tar' comes from this use; it stands for:
`t'ape `ar'chiver. Despite the utility's name, `tar' can direct its
output to any available device, as well as store it in a file or direct
it to another program via a pipe. `tar' may even access, as archives,
remote devices or files.
You can use `tar' archives in many ways. We want to stress a few of
them: storage, backup or transportation.
Storage
Often, `tar' archives are used to store related files for
convenient file transfer over a network. For example, the GNU
Project distributes its software bundled into `tar' archives, so
that all the files relating to a particular program (or set of
related programs) can be transferred as a single unit.
A magnetic tape can store several files in sequence, but has no
names for them, just relative position on the tape. A `tar'
archive or something like it is one way to store several files on
one tape and retain their names. Even when the basic transfer
mechanism can keep track of names, as FTP can, the nuisance of
handling multiple files, directories, and multiple links, makes
`tar' archives an attractive method.
Archive files are also used for long-term storage, which you can
think of as transportation from one time to another.
Backup
Because the archive created by `tar' is capable of preserving file
information and directory structure, `tar' is commonly used for