from archives.
Copyright @copyright{} 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001,
-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software
+Foundation, Inc.
@quotation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
-Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being ``A GNU Manual'',
-and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
-is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
-License''.
-
-(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to
-copy and modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF
-supports it in developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
+Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
+A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
+Documentation License''.
@end quotation
@end copying
@itemx -P
Normally when creating an archive, @command{tar} strips an initial
-@samp{/} from member names. This option disables that behavior.
-@xref{absolute}.
+@samp{/} from member names, and when extracting from an archive @command{tar}
+treats names specially if they have initial @samp{/} or internal
+@samp{..}. This option disables that behavior. @xref{absolute}.
@opsummary{after-date}
@item --after-date
@item --group=@var{group}
Files added to the @command{tar} archive will have a group @acronym{ID} of @var{group},
-rather than the group from the source file. @var{group} is first decoded
-as a group symbolic name, but if this interpretation fails, it has to be
-a decimal numeric group @acronym{ID}. @xref{override}.
+rather than the group from the source file. @var{group} can specify a
+symbolic name, or a numeric @acronym{ID}, or both as
+@var{name}:@var{id}. @xref{override}.
Also see the comments for the @option{--owner=@var{user}} option.
Specifies that @command{tar} should use @var{user} as the owner of members
when creating archives, instead of the user associated with the source
-file. @var{user} is first decoded as a user symbolic name, but if
-this interpretation fails, it has to be a decimal numeric user @acronym{ID}.
+file. @var{user} can specify a symbolic name, or a numeric
+@acronym{ID}, or both as @var{name}:@var{id}.
@xref{override}.
This option does not affect extraction from archives.
@smallexample
tar (GNU tar) @value{VERSION}
-Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Specifies that @command{tar} should use @var{user} as the owner of members
when creating archives, instead of the user associated with the source
-file. The argument @var{user} can be either an existing user symbolic
-name, or a decimal numeric user @acronym{ID}.
+file.
+
+If @var{user} contains a colon, it is taken to be of the form
+@var{name}:@var{id} where a nonempty @var{name} specifies the user
+name and a nonempty @var{id} specifies the decimal numeric user
+@acronym{ID}. If @var{user} does not contain a colon, it is taken to
+be a user number if it is one or more decimal digits; otherwise it is
+taken to be a user name.
+
+If a name is given but no number, the number is inferred from the
+current host's user database if possible, and the file's user number
+is used otherwise. If a number is given but no name, the name is
+inferred from the number if possible, and an empty name is used
+otherwise. If both name and number are given, the user database is
+not consulted, and the name and number need not be valid on the
+current host.
There is no value indicating a missing number, and @samp{0} usually means
@code{root}. Some people like to force @samp{0} as the value to offer in
@opindex group
Files added to the @command{tar} archive will have a group @acronym{ID} of @var{group},
-rather than the group from the source file. The argument @var{group}
-can be either an existing group symbolic name, or a decimal numeric group @acronym{ID}.
+rather than the group from the source file. As with @option{--owner},
+the argument @var{group} can be an existing group symbolic name, or a
+decimal numeric group @acronym{ID}, or @var{name}:@var{id}.
@end table
@node Ignore Failed Read
scripts for comparing both outputs. @xref{listing member and file names},
for the information on how to handle this case.}.
+Symbolic links containing @file{..} or leading @samp{/} can also cause
+problems when extracting, so @command{tar} normally extracts them last;
+it may create empty files as placeholders during extraction.
+
If you use the @option{--absolute-names} (@option{-P}) option,
@command{tar} will do none of these transformations.
@table @option
@item --absolute-names
Preserves full file names (including superior directory names) when
-archiving files. Preserves leading slash when extracting files.
+archiving and extracting files.
@end table
projects / chaz / tar / blobdiff