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.\" $Id: tar.1,v 1.2 89/02/12 10:08:55 mark Exp $

.TH TAR 1 "USENIX Association" ""

.SH NAME

tar \- process tape archives

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B tar

.BR \-c [ bfvw ]

.I device

.I block

.I filename...

.br

.B tar

.BR \-r [ bvw ]

.I device

.I block

.RI [ filename... ]

.br

.B tar

.BR \-t [ fv ]

.I device

.br

.B tar

.BR \-u [ bvw ]

.I device

.I block

.br

.B tar

.BR \-x [ flmovw ]

.I device

.RI [ filename... ]

.SH DESCRIPTION

.I Tar

reads and writes archive files which conform to the

.B "Archive/Interchange File Format"

specified in

.IR "IEEE Std. 1003.1-1988" .

.SS Options

The following options are available:

.TP 1i

.B \-c

Creates a new archive; writing begins at the beginning of the archive,

instead of after the last file.

.TP 1i

.B \-r

Writes names files to the end of the archive.

.TP 1i

.B \-t

Lists the names of all of the files in the archive.

.TP 1i

.B \-u

Causes named files to be

added to the archive if they are not already there, or have been

modified since last written into the archive.

This implies the

.B \-r

option.

.TP 1i

.B \-x

Extracts named files

from the archive.

If a named file matches a directory whose contents had been written onto

the archive, that directory is recursively extracted.

If a named file in the archive does not exist on the system, the file is

create with the same mode as the one in the archive, except that the

set-user-id and get-group-id modes are not set unless the user has

appropriate privileges.

.PP

If the files exist, their modes are not changed except as described above.

The owner, group and modification time are restored if possible.

If no

.I filename

argument is given, the entire contents of the archive is extracted.

Note that if several files with the same name are in the archive,

the last one will overwrite all earlier ones.

.TP 1i

.B \-b

Causes

.I tar

to use the next argument on the command line as the blocking factor for

tape records.

The default is 1; the maximum is 20.

This option should only be used with raw magnetic tape archives.

Normally, the block size is determined automatically when reading tapes.

.TP 1i

.B \-f

Causes

.I tar

to use the next argument on the command line as the name of the archive

instead of the default, which is usually a tape drive.

If

.B -

is specified as a filename

.I tar

writes to the standard output or reads from the standard input, whichever

is appropriate for the options given.

Thus,

.I tar

can be used as the head or tail of a pipeline.

.TP 1i

.B \-l

Tells

.I tar

to report if it cannot resolve all of the links to the files being

archived.

If

.B \-l

is not specified, no error messages are written to the standard output.

This modifier is only valid with the

.BR \-c ,

.B \-r

and

.BR \-u

options.

.TP 1i

.B \-m

Tells

.I tar

not to restore the modification times.

The modification time of the file will be the time of extraction.

This modifier is invalid with th

.B \-t

option.

.TP 1i

.B \-o

Causes extracted files to take on the user and group identifier of the user

running the program rather than those on the archive.

This modifier is only valid with the

.B \-x

option.

.TP 1i

.B \-v

Causes

.I tar

to operate verbosely.  Usually,

.I tar

does its work silently, but

the

.B v

modifier causes it to print the name of each file it processes,

preceded by the option letter.

With the

.B \-t

option,

.B v

gives more information about the archive entries than just the name.

.TP 1i

.B \-w

Causes

.I tar

to print the action to be taken, followed by the name of the file, and then

wait for the user's confirmation.

If a word beginning with

.B y

is given, the action is performed.

Any other input means "no".

This modifier is invalid with the

.B \-t

option.

.SH FILES

.TP 1i

/dev/tty

used to prompt the user for information when the

.BR \-i " or " \-y

options are specified.

.SH "SEE ALSO"

cpio(1), dd(1), find(1), pax(1), cpio(5), tar(5)

.SH COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1989 Mark H. Colburn.  

.br

All rights reserved.

.PP

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted

provided that the above copyright notice is duplicated in all such 

forms and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other 

materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that the 

software was developed by Mark H. Colburn and sponsored by The 

USENIX Association. 

.PP

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR

IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

.SH AUTHOR

Mark H. Colburn

.br

NAPS International

.br

117 Mackubin Street, Suite 1

.br

St. Paul, MN 55102

.br

mark@jhereg.MN.ORG

.sp 2

Sponsored by

.B "The USENIX Association"

for public distribution.