* Pure numbers in date strings:: 19931219, 1440.
* Seconds since the Epoch:: @@1078100502.
* Specifying time zone rules:: TZ="America/New_York", TZ="UTC0".
-* Authors of get_date:: Bellovin, Eggert, Salz, Berets, et al.
+* Authors of parse_datetime:: Bellovin, Eggert, Salz, Berets, et al.
Controlling the Archive Format
@smallexample
@group
-V--------- 0/0 1536 2006-06-09 13:07 MyVolume--Volume Header--
--rw-r--r-- gray/staff 456783 2006-06-09 12:06 aspic--Continued at
-byte 32456--
--rw-r--r-- gray/staff 62373 2006-06-09 12:06 apple
-lrwxrwxrwx gray/staff 0 2006-06-09 13:01 angst -> apple
--rw-r--r-- gray/staff 35793 2006-06-09 12:06 blues
-hrw-r--r-- gray/staff 0 2006-06-09 12:06 music link to blues
+V--------- 0/0 1536 2006-06-09 13:07 MyVolume--Volume Header--
+-rw-r--r-- gray/staff 456783 2006-06-09 12:06 aspic--Continued at byte 32456--
+-rw-r--r-- gray/staff 62373 2006-06-09 12:06 apple
+lrwxrwxrwx gray/staff 0 2006-06-09 13:01 angst -> apple
+-rw-r--r-- gray/staff 35793 2006-06-09 12:06 blues
+hrw-r--r-- gray/staff 0 2006-06-09 12:06 music link to blues
@end group
@end smallexample
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar --list --verbose --file=collection.tar folk}
--rw-r--r-- myself user 62 1990-05-23 10:55 folk
+-rw-r--r-- myself/user 62 1990-05-23 10:55 folk
@end smallexample
@cindex listing member and file names
@command{tar} responds:
@smallexample
-drwxrwxrwx myself user 0 1990-05-31 21:49 practice/
--rw-r--r-- myself user 42 1990-05-21 13:29 practice/blues
--rw-r--r-- myself user 62 1990-05-23 10:55 practice/folk
--rw-r--r-- myself user 40 1990-05-21 13:30 practice/jazz
--rw-r--r-- myself user 10240 1990-05-31 21:49 practice/collection.tar
+drwxrwxrwx myself/user 0 1990-05-31 21:49 practice/
+-rw-r--r-- myself/user 42 1990-05-21 13:29 practice/blues
+-rw-r--r-- myself/user 62 1990-05-23 10:55 practice/folk
+-rw-r--r-- myself/user 40 1990-05-21 13:30 practice/jazz
+-rw-r--r-- myself/user 10240 1990-05-31 21:49 practice/collection.tar
@end smallexample
When you use a directory name as a file name argument, @command{tar} acts on
produces this:
@smallexample
--rw-r--r-- me user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
--rw-r--r-- me user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
@end smallexample
@node extracting files
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar -xvvf music.tar practice/folk practice/jazz}
--rw-r--r-- me user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 practice/jazz
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 practice/folk
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 practice/jazz
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 practice/folk
@end smallexample
@noindent
@subsection Old Option Style
@cindex options, old style
@cindex old option style
+@cindex option syntax, traditional
-Like short options, @dfn{old options} are single letters. However, old options
+As far as we know, all @command{tar} programs, @acronym{GNU} and
+non-@acronym{GNU}, support @dfn{old options}: that is, if the first
+argument does not start with @samp{-}, it is assumed to specify option
+letters. @GNUTAR{} supports old options not only for historical
+reasons, but also because many people are used to them. If the first
+argument does not start with a dash, you are announcing the old option
+style instead of the short option style; old options are decoded
+differently.
+
+Like short options, old options are single letters. However, old options
must be written together as a single clumped set, without spaces separating
-them or dashes preceding them@footnote{Beware that if you precede options
-with a dash, you are announcing the short option style instead of the
-old option style; short options are decoded differently.}. This set
+them or dashes preceding them. This set
of letters must be the first to appear on the command line, after the
@command{tar} program name and some white space; old options cannot appear
anywhere else. The letter of an old option is exactly the same letter as
Here, @samp{20} is the argument of @option{-b} and @samp{/dev/rmt0} is
the argument of @option{-f}.
-On the other hand, this old style syntax makes it difficult to match
+The old style syntax can make it difficult to match
option letters with their corresponding arguments, and is often
confusing. In the command @w{@samp{tar cvbf 20 /dev/rmt0}}, for example,
@samp{20} is the argument for @option{-b}, @samp{/dev/rmt0} is the
second example, however, uses @file{z} as the value for option
@samp{f} --- probably not what was intended.
-Old options are kept for compatibility with old versions of @command{tar}.
-
This second example could be corrected in many ways, among which the
following are equivalent:
@kbd{tar cf archive.tar.gz -z file}
@end smallexample
-@cindex option syntax, traditional
-As far as we know, all @command{tar} programs, @acronym{GNU} and
-non-@acronym{GNU}, support old options. @GNUTAR{}
-supports them not only for historical reasons, but also because many
-people are used to them. For compatibility with Unix @command{tar},
-the first argument is always treated as containing command and option
-letters even if it doesn't start with @samp{-}. Thus, @samp{tar c} is
-equivalent to @w{@samp{tar -c}:} both of them specify the
-@option{--create} (@option{-c}) command to create an archive.
-
@node Mixing
@subsection Mixing Option Styles
Verbose output appears on the standard output except when an archive is
being written to the standard output, as with @samp{tar --create
---file=- --verbose} (@samp{tar cfv -}, or even @samp{tar cv}---if the
+--file=- --verbose} (@samp{tar cvf -}, or even @samp{tar cv}---if the
installer let standard output be the default archive). In that case
@command{tar} writes verbose output to the standard error stream.
@cindex @samp{Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `%s'}, warning message
@item unknown-keyword
@samp{Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `%s'}
+@kwindex decompress-program
+@item decompress-program
+Controls verbose description of failures occurring when trying to run
+alternative decompressor programs (@pxref{alternative decompression
+programs}). This warning is disabled by default (unless
+@option{--verbose} is used). A common example of what you can get
+when using this warning is:
+
+@smallexample
+$ @kbd{tar --warning=decompress-program -x -f archive.Z}
+tar (child): cannot run compress: No such file or directory
+tar (child): trying gzip
+@end smallexample
+
+This means that @command{tar} first tried to decompress
+@file{archive.Z} using @command{compress}, and, when that
+failed, switched to @command{gzip}.
@end table
@subheading Keywords controlling incremental extraction:
@smallexample
@kbd{tar --create --file=empty-archive.tar --files-from=/dev/null}
-@kbd{tar cfT empty-archive.tar /dev/null}
+@kbd{tar -cf empty-archive.tar -T /dev/null}
@end smallexample
@xopindex{extract, complementary notes}
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar --list --file=collection.tar}
--rw-r--r-- me user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
--rw-r--r-- me user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 rock
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 rock
@end smallexample
@node multiple
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar --list --verbose --file=collection.tar}
--rw-r--r-- me user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
--rw-r--r-- me user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
--rw-r--r-- me user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 rock
--rw-r--r-- me user 58 1996-10-24 18:30 blues
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 28 1996-10-18 16:31 jazz
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 rock
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 58 1996-10-24 18:30 blues
@end smallexample
@noindent
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar --extract -vv --occurrence --file=collection.tar blues}
--rw-r--r-- me user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
+-rw-r--r-- me/user 21 1996-09-23 16:44 blues
@end smallexample
@xref{Writing}, for more information on @option{--extract} and
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar -tvf bluesrock.tar}
--rw-r--r-- melissa user 105 1997-01-21 19:42 blues
--rw-r--r-- melissa user 33 1997-01-20 15:34 rock
+-rw-r--r-- melissa/user 105 1997-01-21 19:42 blues
+-rw-r--r-- melissa/user 33 1997-01-20 15:34 rock
$ @kbd{tar -tvf jazzfolk.tar}
--rw-r--r-- melissa user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
--rw-r--r-- melissa user 65 1997-01-30 14:15 jazz
+-rw-r--r-- melissa/user 20 1996-09-23 16:44 folk
+-rw-r--r-- melissa/user 65 1997-01-30 14:15 jazz
@end smallexample
We can concatenate these two archives with @command{tar}:
@xref{Integrity}, for some of the security-related implications
of using this option.
-@include getdate.texi
+@include parse-datetime.texi
@node Formats
@chapter Controlling the Archive Format
For example:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{tar cfz archive.tar.gz .}
+$ @kbd{tar czf archive.tar.gz .}
@end smallexample
You can also let @GNUTAR{} select the compression program based on
compression:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{tar cfa archive.tar.bz2 .}
+$ @kbd{tar caf archive.tar.bz2 .}
@end smallexample
@noindent
whereas the following one will use @command{lzma}:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{tar cfa archive.tar.lzma .}
+$ @kbd{tar caf archive.tar.lzma .}
@end smallexample
For a complete list of file name suffixes recognized by @GNUTAR{},
falls back to using archive name suffix to determine its format
(@pxref{auto-compress}, for a list of recognized suffixes).
+@anchor{alternative decompression programs}
+@cindex alternative decompression programs
+Some compression programs are able to handle different compression
+formats. @GNUTAR{} uses this, if the principal decompressor for the
+given format is not available. For example, if @command{compress} is
+not installed, @command{tar} will try to use @command{gzip}. As of
+version @value{VERSION} the following alternatives are
+tried@footnote{To verbosely trace the decompressor selection, use the
+@option{--warning=decompress-program} option
+(@pxref{warnings,decompress-program}).}:
+
+@multitable @columnfractions 0.3 0.3 0.3
+@headitem Format @tab Main decompressor @tab Alternatives
+@item compress @tab compress @tab gzip
+@item lzma @tab lzma @tab xz
+@item bzip2 @tab bzip2 @tab lbzip2
+@end multitable
+
The only case when you have to specify a decompression option while
reading the archive is when reading from a pipe or from a tape drive
that does not support random access. However, in this case @GNUTAR{}
invocation of @GNUTAR{}:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{cat archive.tar.gz | tar tfz -}
+$ @kbd{cat archive.tar.gz | tar tzf -}
@end smallexample
Notice also, that there are several restrictions on operations on
use @env{GZIP} as in the example below:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{GZIP=--best tar cfz archive.tar.gz subdir}
+$ @kbd{GZIP=--best tar czf archive.tar.gz subdir}
@end smallexample
@noindent
@smallexample
@group
-$ ls
--rw-r--r-- 2 gray staff 4 2007-10-30 15:11 one
--rw-r--r-- 2 gray staff 4 2007-10-30 15:11 jeden
+$ ls -l
+-rw-r--r-- 2 gray staff 4 2007-10-30 15:11 one
+-rw-r--r-- 2 gray staff 4 2007-10-30 15:11 jeden
@end group
@end smallexample
the following:
@smallexample
-$ tar cfvv ../archive.tar .
+$ tar cvvf ../archive.tar .
drwxr-xr-x gray/staff 0 2007-10-30 15:13 ./
-rw-r--r-- gray/staff 4 2007-10-30 15:11 ./jeden
hrw-r--r-- gray/staff 0 2007-10-30 15:11 ./one link to ./jeden
@smallexample
$ @kbd{tar --create --multi-volume --file=/dev/tape0 --file=/dev/tape1 @var{files}}
-$ @kbd{tar cMff /dev/tape0 /dev/tape1 @var{files}}
+$ @kbd{tar -cM -f /dev/tape0 -f /dev/tape1 @var{files}}
@end smallexample
The second method is to use the @samp{n} response to the tape-change
@smallexample
@group
$ @kbd{tar --verbose --list --file=iamanarchive}
-V--------- 0 0 0 1992-03-07 12:01 iamalabel--Volume Header--
--rw-r--r-- ringo user 40 1990-05-21 13:30 iamafilename
+V--------- 0/0 0 1992-03-07 12:01 iamalabel--Volume Header--
+-rw-r--r-- ringo/user 40 1990-05-21 13:30 iamafilename
@end group
@end smallexample
@smallexample
@group
-$ @kbd{tar cfMV /dev/tape "Daily backup for `date +%Y-%m-%d`"}
+$ @kbd{tar -cM -f /dev/tape -V "Daily backup for `date +%Y-%m-%d`"}
$ @kbd{tar --create --file=/dev/tape --multi-volume \
--label="Daily backup for `date +%Y-%m-%d`"}
@end group
projects / chaz / tar / blobdiff