@node directory
@subsection Changing the Working Directory
-@UNREVISED
@FIXME{need to read over this node now for continuity; i've switched
things around some.}
@smallexample
@group
--C
-/etc
+-C/etc
passwd
hosts
--C
-/lib
+--directory=/lib
libc.a
@end group
@end smallexample
$ @kbd{tar -c -f foo.tar --files-from list}
@end smallexample
-Notice also that you can only use the short option variant in the file
-list, i.e., always use @option{-C}, not @option{--directory}.
-
The interpretation of @option{--directory} is disabled by
@option{--null} option.
@uref{http://www.gnu.org/@/software/@/tar/@/utils/@/tarcat.html, @GNUTAR{}
home page}. It concatenates several archive volumes into a single
valid archive. For example, if you have three volumes named from
-@file{vol-1.tar} to @file{vol-2.tar}, you can do the following to
+@file{vol-1.tar} to @file{vol-3.tar}, you can do the following to
extract them using a third-party @command{tar}:
@smallexample
@end smallexample
@cindex Mutli-volume archives in PAX format, extracting using non-GNU tars
-You could use this approach for many (although not all) PAX
+You could use this approach for most (although not all) PAX
format archives as well. However, extracting split members from a PAX
archive is a much easier task, because PAX volumes are constructed in
-such a way that each part of a split member is extracted as a
+such a way that each part of a split member is extracted to a
different file by @command{tar} implementations that are not aware of
GNU extensions. More specifically, the very first part retains its
original name, and all subsequent parts are named using the pattern:
@item %n @tab Ordinal number of this particular part.
@end multitable
-For example, if, a file @file{var/longfile} was split during archive
+For example, if the file @file{var/longfile} was split during archive
creation between three volumes, and the creator @command{tar} process
had process ID @samp{27962}, then the member names will be:
the command:
@smallexample
-$ @kbd{xsparse @file{cond-file}}
+$ @kbd{xsparse @file{cond-file} @file{out-file}}
@end smallexample
It is often a good idea to run @command{xsparse} in @dfn{dry run} mode
The program behaves the same way all UNIX utilities do: it will keep
quiet unless it has simething important to tell you (e.g. an error
condition or something). If you wish it to produce verbose output,
-similar to that from the dry run mode, give it @option{-v} option:
+similar to that from the dry run mode, use @option{-v} option:
@smallexample
@group
@enumerate 1
@item
-Consult the documentation for your @command{tar} implementation for an
-option that will print @dfn{block numbers} along with the archive
+Consult the documentation of your @command{tar} implementation for an
+option that prints @dfn{block numbers} along with the archive
listing (analogous to @GNUTAR{}'s @option{-R} option). For example,
@command{star} has @option{-block-number}.
@item
-Obtain the verbose listing using the @samp{block number} option, and
-find the position of the sparse member in question and the member
+Obtain verbose listing using the @samp{block number} option, and
+find block numbers of the sparse member in question and the member
immediately following it. For example, running @command{star} on our
archive we obtain: