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tar(1)									tar(1)

Name
       tar - multivolume archiver

Syntax
       tar [key] [name...]

Description
       The  tape  archiver  command,  saves and restores multiple files to and
       from a single archive.  The default archive device is but any  file  or
       device may be requested through the use of options.

       The  key is a string of characters containing at most one function let‐
       ter and possibly names specifying which files to dump or	 restore.   In
       all  cases,  appearance	of  a  directory  name refers to the files and
       (recursively) subdirectories of that directory.

       This utility supports EOT handling which allows	the  use  of  multiple
       media.	The utility prompts for the next volume when it encounters the
       end of the current volume.

       This utility supports the TA90 style sequential stacker loader  device.
       The  device ejects a cartridge when it is taken off line.  This utility
       performs the device ejection on behalf of the user when it encounters a
       multivolume  boundary  during  write or read operations involving tape.
       The device then automatically loads the next available tape  (if	 there
       is one).	 The utility then attempts to access this next tape for a rea‐
       sonable amount of time (approximately three minutes)  before  prompting
       the user for a manual reload operation.

Function Keys
       The  function  portion  of the key is specified by one of the following
       letters:

       c       Create a new archive on tape, disk or file.  Writing starts  at
	       the beginning of the archive instead of after the last file.

       r       Write the named files to the end of the archive.

       t       List the names of the files as they occur on the input archive.

       u       Add  the	 named	files  to  the	archive	 if they are not there
	       already or if they have been modified since they were last  put
	       in the archive.

       x       Extract	the  named  files from the archive.  If the named file
	       matches a directory whose contents had been  written  into  the
	       archive,	 the  directory	 is recursively extracted.  The owner,
	       modification time, and mode are restored, if possible.	If  no
	       file  argument  is  given, the entire content of the archive is
	       extracted.  Note that if multiple entries specifying  the  same
	       file  are  in the archive, the last one overwrites all previous
	       versions extracted.

Options
       You can use one or more of the following options	 in  addition  to  the
       letter which selects the function desired:

       0...9	 Substitute  number  for  the  device  unit  number  as in The
		 default is the high density rewind tape  device  number  zero
		 named The following tar command uses device
		 % tar cv4 tar.c

       A	 Use  next argument as archive number with which to begin out‐
		 put.

       B	 Force input and output blocking to  20	 blocks/record.	  This
		 option	 allows	 to work across a communications channel where
		 the blocking may not be maintained.

       D	 Directory output in original style.

       C	 Use to perform a directory change prior to archiving data.

       F[ F ]	 Operate in fast mode .	 When F is specified, skips  all  SCCS
		 directories,  core files, and error files.  When FF is speci‐
		 fied, also skips all and *.o files.

       H	 Help mode.  Print a summary of the function keys and options.

       L	 Permits the program to treat the tape drive as	 a  sequential
		 loader	 device	 even  though it is not represented as such in
		 the system driver tables.

       M	 Next argument specifies maximum archive number to be  written
		 and prints current archive number on output line.

       N	 No  multi-archive,  file  splitting,  or new header format on
		 output.  Output directories in previous tar format. On input,
		 set file UID and GID from file header vs. values in and group
		 files.

       O	 Include file owner and group names in verbose output (t and x
		 functions) if present in archive header.  Output warning mes‐
		 sage if owner or group name not found in or file  (cru	 func‐
		 tions).

       P	 Used to specify POSIX format tapes.  Necesary only with the c
		 key.

       R	 Each named file contains a list of file  names	 separated  by
		 newlines which is added to (c function key) or extracted from
		 (x function key) the archive.

       S	 Output User Group Standard archive format.

       V	 Display extended verbose information.	Included are the  ver‐
		 sion  number  of the number of blocks used on the device, the
		 number of blocks in a file, and the protection modes given in
		 a  format  similar to the ls -l command.  In addition to this
		 information, V	 provides  the	information  given  by	the  v
		 option.

       b	 Use  the  next	 argument  as  the  blocking  factor  for tape
		 records.  The default is  20  (the  maximum  is  127).	  This
		 option	 should	 only  be used with raw magnetic tape archives
		 (see the f option).  This option is unnecessary when  reading
		 tapes (x and t keys).	See the Restrictions section.

       d	 Use  as  the  default device.	The command is recommended for
		 use with floppy disks.

       f	 Use the next argument as the name of the archive  instead  of
		 If  the  name of the file is - , writes to standard output or
		 reads from standard input, whichever is  appropriate.	 Thus,
		 can  be  used as the head or tail of a filter chain.  You can
		 also use to move hierarchies.	The  following	example	 shows
		 how to move the directory to the directory
		 # cd fromdir; tar cf - . | (cd todir; tar xpf -)

       h	 Save a copy of the actual file on the output device under the
		 symbolic link name, instead of placing the symbolic  informa‐
		 tion  on  the output.	The default action of is to place sym‐
		 bolic link information on the output device.  A copy  of  the
		 file itself is not saved on the output device.

       i	 Ignore checksum errors found in the archive.

       l	 Complain  if  cannot  resolve	all  of the links to the files
		 dumped.  If this is not  specified,  no  error	 messages  are
		 printed.

       m	 Do not restore the modification times.	 The modification time
		 is the time of extraction.  Tar normally  restores  modifica‐
		 tion times of regular and special files.

       o	 Suppress  the	normal directory information.  On output, nor‐
		 mally places information specifying owner and modes of direc‐
		 tories	 in the archive.  Former versions of when encountering
		 this information will give error  message  of	the  following
		 form:
		 <name>/: cannot create
		 The command will place information specifying owner and modes
		 of directories in the archive.

       p	 Restore the named files to their original modes, ignoring the
		 present Setuid and sticky bit information is also restored to
		 the superuser.

       s	 Next argument specifies size of archive in 512 byte blocks.

       v	 Write the name of each file treated, preceded by the function
		 letter,  to  diagnostic  output.   Normally,  does  its  work
		 silently.  With the t function key, the verbose  option  pro‐
		 vides more information about the tape entries than just their
		 names.
		 #cd /
		 #tar cvf tar-out vmunix
		 The preceeding command produces the output  ``a  vmunix  1490
		 blocks''  where  1490 is the number of 512 byte blocks in the
		 file ``vmunix''.
		 #tar xvf tar-out
		 The proceeding command produces the output ``x vmunix, 762880
		 bytes,	 1490 blocks'' where 762880 is the number of bytes and
		 1490 is the number of 512 byte blocks in the file  ``vmunix''
		 which was extracted.

       w	 Print	the  action  to	 be taken, followed by file name, then
		 wait for user confirmation.  If a  word  beginning  with  the
		 letter y is given, the action is done.	 Any other input means
		 do not do it.

Restrictions
       The option fails to ignore umask when extracting a file that  has  been
       archived by the DEC/OSF 1 command.  Use to work around the limitation.

       There is no way to ask for the nth occurrence of a file.

       Tape errors are handled ungracefully.

       The u key can be slow.

       The limit on file name length is 100 characters.

       There is no way to follow symbolic links selectively.

       On SCSI tape devices tar (when reading) may end on one volume of a mul‐
       tivolume set without prompting for the next  volume.  This  is  a  very
       infrequent  condition. The next volume should be loaded and the command
       issued again.

       Using a blocking factor other than the default (b option) may  lead  to
       higher  performance.  However, you must select a value that is compati‐
       ble with	 the  hardware	limitations  of	 the  source  and  destination
       machines.  Software limitations may apply for other versions of

       When extracting (x), reads the entire tape. See the r and u keys.

       The  u  and  the	 r function keys do not operate with quarter-inch tape
       cartidge drives such as the TZK10.

       ULTRIX due to BSD coding, does not completely fill a flexible  disc  in
       multivolume situations.

       In  multivolulme	 situations, ULTRIX employs the following header rules
       for volume-spanning files.  At the beginning of the next volume, a sec‐
       ond  header is written that includes both the full size of the file and
       the size of the file segment that is written on the second volume.  The
       first  header  states  the full size of the file only.  These rules may
       not be compatible with other systems' versions of

Examples
       To archive files from and type:
       # tar c -C /usr/include . -C /etc .

       The command can properly handle blocked archives.

Diagnostics
       The command produces diagnostics when it encounters bad key characters,
       read/write errors and when there is not enough memory available to hold
       the link tables.

Files
See Also
       mdtar(1), mt(1), tar(5)

									tar(1)
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