BAR(1)

📦 version 1.11.1, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 BAR(1) 💖 — okay so this is the manual for bar, from the General Commands Manual section, and bestie, it's a whole vibe 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

bar — show information about a data transfer 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bar [ I/O-options ] [ display-options ] [ color-options ]
    [ input-file ] [ output-file ]
    [ -h | --help ] [ -v | --version ]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Bar is a simple tool that processes a stream of data and prints a display for you on stderr showing:

  • (a) the amount of data passed 📦
  • (b) the throughput of the data transfer 🚀
  • (c) and if the total size of the data stream is known — estimated time remaining, percent complete, and a progress bar ⏳

Bar was originally written for the purpose of estimating the amount of time needed to transfer large amounts (many, many gigabytes) of data across a network. (Usually in an SSH/tar pipe.) Like, that was the entire origin story. Iconic. 🧚

💅 I/O COMMAND LINE OPTIONS 💅

  • -if input-file
  • --in-file input-file

Read input from input-file. Default: stdin

  • -of output-file
  • --out-file output-file

Write output to output-file. If the output file is a directory, then bar will attempt to create a file in the output directory with the same name as the input file, and attempt to copy the input file mode as well as it's data. Default: stdout

Please notice that if no -if, --in-file, -of, or --out-file options are specified on the command line, and an unknown command line option is encountered, then bar will assume that the first unknown command line option is a path to an input file, and the second (if found) is a path to an output file. 🙈 (yes really, it just guesses, iykyk)

  • -s size
  • --size size

Expect an input stream of size bytes. 📏

When reading a regular file or a link to a regular file, bar will extract the file size on it's own. However, this flag is useful for reading from a character- or block-special device file, or from a pipe. size may be followed by 'k', 'm', 'g', 't', 'p', or 'e' for kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes, or exabytes, respectively (see also the -k option below). Alternatively, size may also be specified in terms of 'b' for blocks (see the -bl option below). See examples below.

  • -c size
  • --completed size

Instruct bar that size bytes of the data stream have already been copied, and that this is a continuation of a previous data stream. Note that use of this option will throw off throughput and ETA calculations at first, but they should settle down as the transfer continues. (she's just a little confused at first, give her a sec 🫶)

  • -bs buffer-size
  • --buffer-size buffer-size

Allocate an I/O buffer of buffer-size bytes. The same modifiers may apply here ('k', 'm', 'g', 't', 'p', 'e' and 'b') as for the -s flag above. Changing the buffer size can improve throughput, depending on your application of bar. For fast I/O operations, say from a ramdisk for instance, it might be worth your while to experiment with a large buffer (circa 1MB for instance). But for slow I/O operations, like from a tape drive, you could merely be wasting your memory. Default: 52488 (512KB)

  • -th rate
  • --throttle rate

Restrict I/O throughput to rate bytes per second. The same modifiers apply here ('k', 'm', 'g', 't', 'p', 'e' and 'b') as for the -s flag above. 🐢

  • -i seconds
  • --interval seconds

Update the display every seconds seconds. Default: 1 second ⏰

  • -t microseconds
  • --timeout microseconds

The number of microseconds to wait for a change in I/O state before select() times out. Default: 250000 (1/4 second)

  • -k 1000|1024
  • --kilo 1000|1024

Use either 1000 or 1024 as the definition of a kilobyte. Default: 1024 🧮

  • -bl size
  • --block-size size

When reading sizes from the command line that are specified in terms of blocks, assume a single block is size bytes. Size may be followed by 'k', 'm', 'g', 't', 'p', or 'e' for kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, petabytes, or exabytes, respectively. Block size must be set before specifying any sizes in terms of blocks or the default value will be used instead. Specifying size in terms of 'b' for blocks is not allowed for this option. Default: 512

🌈 DISPLAY COMMAND LINE OPTIONS 🌈

  • -sw width
  • --screen-width width

Assume a screen width of width characters. 📐

Bar will attempt to retrieve the width of the terminal it is running on, and will adjust that width if the terminal is resized. If bar cannot determine the terminal width, then bar will assume a default width of 79 characters. Use the --screen-width command line option to override this behavior and specify a fixed width for bar to use. (When this option is used, bar will ignore terminal resized signals and continue to use the value provided by the user.) — she's locked in, no take-backs 💅

  • -sw-1 | --screen-width-minus-one
  • -sw-0 | --screen-width-minus-zero

Instruct bar to use either the entire column width reported by termio, or one less than reported by termio. I.e. If termio reports that you are running bar in a terminal that's 80 characters wide, using the command line option --screen-width-minus-one instructs bar to only use 79 characters to print the display. If you're using a terminal or shell that wraps the line whenever bar prints the last character then this should alleviate that problem. Default is to use the full terminal's width.

  • -sh height
  • --screen-height height

Assume a screen height of height characters. 📏

Bar will attempt to retrieve the height of the terminal it is running on, and will adjust that height if the terminal is resized. If bar cannot determine the terminal height, then bar will assume a default height of 23 characters. Use the --screen-height command line option to override this behavior and specify a fixed height for bar to use. (When this option is used, bar will ignore terminal resized signals and continue to use the value provided by the user.)

Please note that this option is only useful when used in conjunction with the --info-file command line option. Otherwise bar has no need to know the screen height in order to perform it's function.

  • -sh-1 | --screen-height-minus-one
  • -sh-0 | --screen-height-minus-zero

Instruct bar to use either the entire row height reported by termio, or one less than reported by termio. I.e. If termio reports that you are running bar in a terminal that's 24 rows characters high, using the command line option --screen-height-minus-one instructs bar to only use 23 rows to print the display. If you're using a terminal or shell that wraps the line whenever bar prints the last character then this should alleviate that problem. Default is to use the full terminal's height.

Please note that this option is only useful when used in conjunction with the --info-file command line option. Otherwise bar has no need to know the screen height in order to perform it's function.

  • -ti string | --title string

Set the title to string. 🎀

  • -dti | -nti
  • --display-title | --no-title

Turn on/off the title display. Even if on, if no title string is set then no title will be displayed. Default is on.

  • -dtw | --display-twiddle
  • -ntw | --no-twiddle

Turn on/off the twiddle in the display. (the lil spinner bestie, she's doing her best 🌀)

  • -dc | --display-count
  • -nc | --no-count

Turn on/off the data count in the display. Default is on.

  • -dcb | -ncb
  • --display-count-bits | --no-count-bits

Display the data count at bits instead of as bytes. Default is off.

By default bar will display the data count as bytes using the notation of "B". Using this option, bar will display the throughput as bits using the notation of "b".

  • -dth | --display-throughput
  • -nth | --no-throughput

Turn on/off the data throughput in the display. Default is on. 🚀

  • -dthb | -nthb
  • --display-throughput-bits | --no-throughput-bits

Display throughput as bits/second instead of as bytes/second. Default is off.

By default bar will display the throughput as bytes/second using the notation of "B/s". Using this option, bar will display the throughput as bits/second using the notation of "b/s".

  • -dt | --display-time
  • -nt | --no-time

Turn on/off the time elapsed or eta in the display. Default is on. ⏳

  • -de | --display-elapsed-only
  • -ne | --no-elapsed-only

Force bar to display the elapsed time instead of the eta. Default is off.

  • -dp | --display-percent
  • -np | --no-percent

Turn on/off percent complete in the display. Default is on. 💯

  • -db | --display-bar
  • -nb | --no-bar

Turn on/off the progress bar in the display. Default is on.

  • -ds | --display-summary
  • -ns | --no-summary

Turn on/off the summary information displayed when the operation is complete. Default is on.

  • -da | --display-all
  • -dn | --display-none

Turn on/off all displays. -dn is equivalent to -ntw -nc -nth -nt -np -nb. (Using -dn followed by -db would be equivalent to -ntw -nc -nth -nt -np.) -da is equivalent to -dtw -dc -dth -dt -dp -db. ✨

  • -inf infofile | --info-file infofile

Display the information contained in infofile while copying data. The file infofile is a regular text file containing tidbits of information broken up into sections. Each section is separated by a line containing the string "@@@" by itself, with no other characters on the line, either preceeding or following.

When bar begins, it will count the number of sections within the file. Bar will then begin by displaying the first section of information to the display before it draws the status line. Then, periodically, each of the successive sections will be displayed as the progress indicator fills up.

The progress of the data transfer is the trigger for each successive display. For instance, if your information file has exactly four sections to it, then the first section will be printed as bar begins, the second section after the data transfer hits 25%, the third at 50%, and the fourth at 75%. 📖

If bar is configured to use ANSI control codes, then the screen will be cleared before printing a section from the information file. Otherwise, the contents of the current screen are scolled up and off the screen.

  • -dnum | --display-numeric

Do not render the usual display, but instead display an integer representing the percent of the transfer that is complete, one integer per line. This output is suitable for piping to other programs such as dialog(1) or zenity(1). This implies that the total transfer size must be known by bar, either by finding the size of an input file directly or by using the --size command line option.

  • -dw | --display-wait

Wait for the first byte of data to come through before displaying anything. 🫣

🌈 COLOR COMMAND LINE OPTIONS 🌈

okay bestie, this is the part where bar goes full glam 💅 every color option down here takes a color name, and the vibes committee has approved exactly these keywords:

normal, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white

that's the whole list. no "hot pink", no "slime green", no "whatever that color is in the sunset". just those nine. memorise them, they come back like a hundred times 🫶

  • -dan, --display-ansi — turns on the use of ansi color codes in the display ✨
  • -nan, --no-ansi — turns them off 🙈 (yeah, -nan is "no ansi", not "nan" like the math thing, we've all been there)
  • -spbg color, --space-background color — sets color as the background color for the spacing between display objects 🎀 default: normal
  • -twfg color, --twiddle-foreground color — sets color as the twiddle color in the display 🔥
  • -twbg color, --twiddle-background color — same deal, twiddle color. default: normal
  • -twb, --twiddle-bold — turns on bold font for the twiddle 👑
  • -twn, --twiddle-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -tifg color, --title-foreground color — sets color as the title color in the display 💖
  • -tibg color, --title-background color — title color again. default: normal
  • -tib, --title-bold — turns on bold font for the title, main character energy fr fr ⭐
  • -tin, --title-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -cfg color, --count-foreground color — sets color as the data count color in the display 🔢
  • -cbg color, --count-background color — data count color. default: normal
  • -cb, --count-bold — turns on bold font for the data count 💪
  • -cn, --count-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -thlfg color, --throughput-label-foreground color — sets color as the throughput label color in the display 🌸
  • -thlbg color, --throughput-label-background color — throughput label color. default: normal
  • -thlb, --throughput-label-bold — turns on bold font for the throughput label ✨
  • -thln, --throughput-label-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -thfg color, --throughput-foreground color — sets color as the throughput color in the display 🌊
  • -thbg color, --throughput-background color — throughput color. default: normal
  • -thb, --throughput-bold — turns on bold font for the throughput 🔥
  • -thn, --throughput-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -tlfg color, --time-label-foreground color — sets color as the time label color in the display ⏰
  • -tlbg color, --time-label-background color — time label color. default: normal
  • -tlb, --time-label-bold — turns on bold font for the time label 💜
  • -tln, --time-label-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -tfg color, --time-foreground color — sets color as the time color in the display 🕐
  • -tbg color, --time-background color — time color. default: normal
  • -tb, --time-bold — turns on bold font for the time 👑
  • -tn, --time-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -pfg color, --percent-foreground color — sets color as the percent color in the display 💯
  • -pbg color, --percent-background color — percent color. default: normal
  • -pb, --percent-bold — turns on bold font for the percent 🎀
  • -pn, --percent-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -bbfg color, --bar-brace-foreground color — sets color as the brace color around the progress bar in the display 🦋
  • -bbbg color, --bar-brace-background color — bar brace color. default: normal
  • -bbb, --bar-brace-bold — turns on bold font for the bar braces ✨
  • -bbn, --bar-brace-normal — turns it off. default off
  • -bfg color, --bar-foreground color — sets color as the color of the progress bar in the display 🌈
  • -bbg color, --bar-background color — progress bar color. default: normal
  • -bb, --bar-bold — turns on bold font for the progress bar 🔥
  • -bn, --bar-normal — turns it off. default off

okay now we get to the actual characters of the bar, like the literal glyphs, and you get to pick them:

  • -bobc char, --bar-openbrace-char char — sets char as the open brace character on the progress bar 🫶
  • -bcbc char, --bar-closebrace-char char — sets char as the close brace character on the progress bar 🫶
  • -bcc char, --bar-complete-char char — sets char as the completed character on the progress bar ✅
  • -bic char, --bar-incomplete-char char — sets char as the incomplete character on the progress bar ⬜

and the last two, the classics:

  • -h, --help — displays this text and exits 📖 (yes, this text. the one you're reading. hi 👋)
  • -v, --version — displays the program version and exits 🏷️

🎀 RESOURCE FILE OPTIONS 🎀

okay bestie so listen — you don't have to type out every single flag on the command line every time like some kind of peasant. some of them can live in a resource file, and honestly? iconic behavior. 💅

here's the search order, and it's a whole vibe:

bar looks for a resource file named /etc/clpbarrc first, and if it finds one, bar uses those values by default. then bar goes looking for ~/.barrc, and if that one exists, its values override anything set in /etc/clpbarrc. and last? bar checks the current working directory for a file called ./.barrc. if that exists, its values override everything from ~/.barrc or /etc/clpbarrc. so it's giving very much ✨ layered ✨.

and guess what — values in all of those files can still get overridden by command line flags, because command line flags are the main character here. 👑

oh and ps: lines that begin with a # are ignored. comment your little heart out, queen. 💖

🦋 boolean values, fr fr

for resource options that want a boolean, the following values are recognized:

  • on and off
  • yes and no, (and the single-character abbreviations y and n)
  • true and false, (and the single-character abbreviations t and f)
  • 0 and 1

🌈 color values

for resource options that want a color, the same keywords are recognized as for the color-specific command line options above: normal, black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white

🌸 the options themselves, bestie

  • buffer-size: buffer-size — allocate an I/O buffer of buffer-size bytes. see the --buffer-size command line option above. 🫶
  • throttle: rate — restrict I/O throughput to rate bytes per second. see the --throttle command line option above. slow and steady, bestie. 🐢
  • interval: seconds — update the display every seconds seconds. see the --interval command line option above. ⏰
  • timeout: microseconds — the number of microseconds to wait for a change in I/O state before select() times out. see the --timeout command line option above.
  • kilobyte: 1000|1024 — use either 1000 or 1024 as the definition of a kilobyte. see the --kilo command line option above.
  • block-size: size — when parsing sizes specified in terms of blocks, assume a single block is size bytes. see the --block-size command line option above.
  • screen-width: width — override termio and assume that the screen is width characters wide. see the --screen-width command line option above.
  • screen-width-minus-one: boolean — instruct bar to restrict the number of columns reported by termio by one. see the --screen-width-minus-one command line option above.
  • display-twiddle: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the twirling twiddle character in the display. see the --display-twiddle command line option above. it spins. it twirls. it slays. ✨
  • display-title: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the title in the display. see the --display-title command line option above.
  • display-count: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the data count in the display. see the --display-count command line option above.
  • display-count-bits: boolean — display the data count as bits instead of as bytes. see the --display-count-bits command line option above.
  • display-throughput: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the data throughput in the display. see the --display-throughput command line option above.
  • display-throughput-bits: boolean — display throughput as bits/sec instead of as bytes/sec. see the --display-throughput-bits command line option above.
  • display-time: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the time in the display. see the --display-time command line option above.
  • display-elapsed-only: boolean — force bar to display the elapsed time instead of the eta. see the --display-elapsed-only command line option above.
  • display-percent: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the percent complete in the display. see the --display-percent command line option above.
  • display-bar: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the progress bar in the display. see the --display-bar command line option above.
  • display-summary: boolean — instruct bar to turn on/off the summary information displayed when operation is complete. see the --display-summary command line option above.

💜 info-file: infofile

display the information contained in infofile while copying data. the file infofile is a regular text file containing tidbits of information broken up into sections. each section is separated by a line containing the string "@@@" by itself, with no other characters on the line, either preceeding or following. 💀

when bar begins, it will count the number of sections within the file. bar will then begin by displaying the first section of information to the display before it draws the status line. then, periodically, each of the successive sections will be displayed as the progress indicator fills up.

the progress of the data transfer is the trigger for each successive display. for instance, if your information file has exactly four sections to it, then the first section will be printed as bar begins, the second section after the data transfer hits 25%, the third at 50%, and the fourth at 75%. math girlie behavior, honestly. 🧮

if bar is configured to use ANSI control codes, then the screen will be cleared before printing a section from the information file. otherwise, the contents of the current screen are scolled up and off the screen.

💜 display-numeric: boolean

do not render the usual display, but instead display an integer representing the percent of the transfer that is complete, one integer per line. this output is suitable for piping to other programs such as dialog(1) or zenity(1). this implies that the total transfer size must be known by bar, either by finding the size of an input file directly or by using the --size command line option.

💜 display-wait: boolean

wait for the first byte of data to come through before displaying anything. patience is a virtue, bestie. 🙈

💜 display-ansi: boolean

instruct bar to turn on/off the use of ansi color codes in the display. see the --display-ansi command line option above.

💜 space-background: color

use color as the background color for spacing between display objects. see the --space-background command line option above.

🌟 twiddle colors

  • twiddle-foreground: color
  • twiddle-background: color
  • twiddle-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the twiddle, and use a bold font. see the --twiddle-foreground, --twiddle-background, and --twiddle-bold command line options above. 🎀

🌟 title colors

  • title: string — set the title string for the display. see the --title command line option above.
  • title-foreground: color
  • title-background: color
  • title-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the title, and use a bold font. see the --title-foreground, --title-background, and --title-bold command line options above.

🌟 count colors

  • count-foreground: color
  • count-background: color
  • count-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the data count, and use a bold font. see the --count-foreground, --count-background, and --count-bold command line options above.

🌟 throughput-label colors

  • throughput-label-foreground: color
  • throughput-label-background: color
  • throughput-label-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the throughput label, and use a bold font. see the --throughput-label-foreground, --throughput-label-background, and --throughput-label-bold command line options above.

🌟 throughput colors

  • throughput-foreground: color
  • throughput-background: color
  • throughput-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the throughput, and use a bold font. see the --throughput-foreground, --throughput-background, and --throughput-bold command line options above.

🌟 time-label colors

  • time-label-foreground: color
  • time-label-background: color
  • time-label-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the time label, and use a bold font. see the --time-label-foreground, --time-label-background, and --time-label-bold command line options above.

🌟 time colors

  • time-foreground: color
  • time-background: color
  • time-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the time, and use a bold font. see the --time-foreground, --time-background, and --time-bold command line options above.

🌟 percent colors

  • percent-foreground: color
  • percent-background: color
  • percent-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the percent, and use a bold font. see the --percent-foreground, --percent-background, and --percent-bold command line options above.

🌟 bar-brace colors

  • bar-brace-foreground: color
  • bar-brace-background: color
  • bar-brace-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the brace surrounding the progress bar, and use a bold font. see the --bar-brace-foreground, --bar-brace-background, and --bar-brace-bold command line options above.

🌟 bar colors

  • bar-foreground: color
  • bar-background: color
  • bar-bold: boolean

use the specified colors for the foreground and background of the progress bar, and use a bold font. see the --bar-foreground, --bar-background, and --bar-bold command line options above.

🌟 custom bar characters, yesss

  • bar-openbrace-char: char
  • bar-closebrace-char: char
  • bar-complete-char: char
  • bar-incomplete-char:

use the specified custom characters char for the opening brace, closing brace, completed, and incomplete characters when rendering the progress bar. make it yours, bestie. 🦋

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

okay bestie, this is the part where it all clicks 💅 real-world scenarios, all of them, let's go.

Example 1

Using bar to copy a 2.4gb file from a device (in this case a tape drive) to a file, using a 64k buffer.

prompt% bar --in-file /dev/rmt/1cbn --out-file \
tape-restore.tar --size 2.4g --buffer-size 64k

Example 2

Using bar to copy a 37tb file across the network using SSH.

prompt% ssh remote 'dd if=file' | bar --size 37t > file

Example 3

Using bar inside a tar-pipe command.

A normal tar-pipe command might be:

prompt% (cd /some/dir/somewhere && tar -cf - *) \
| (cd /some/other/dir && tar -xBpf -)

3a: Using bar within the tar-pipe:

prompt% (cd /some/dir/somewhere && tar -cf - *) \
| bar \
| (cd /some/other/dir && tar -xBpf -)

3b: Using bar with the --size option in a tar-pipe:

prompt% du -sk /some/dir/somewhere
6281954 /some/dir/somewhere

prompt% (cd /some/dir/somewhere && tar -cf - *) \
| bar --size 6281954k \
| (cd /some/other/dir && tar -xBpf -)

Example 4

Using bar on a regular file. (Note that the --size option is not needed here, as bar will retrieve the file size itself.)

prompt% bar --in-file ./file | ssh remote 'cd /some/dir && dd of=file'

Example 5

Generating a 512k file of random data.

prompt% dd if=/dev/random bs=1024 count=512 \
| bar -s 512k -of ./random

Example 6

An example .barrc file. 🎀

#
# This is an example of what a ~/.barrc file
# might look like.  Note that lines beginning
# with a # are ignored.
#
display-twiddle: no
display-ansi: yes
# space-background: black
twiddle-foreground: green
# twiddle-background: normal
# twiddle-bold: no
count-foreground: green
# count-background: magenta
count-bold: yes
throughput-label-foreground: normal
# throughput-label-background: red
throughput-label-bold: no
throughput-foreground: green
# throughput-background: black
throughput-bold: yes
time-label-foreground: normal
# time-label-background: red
time-label-bold: no
time-foreground: green
# time-background: black
time-bold: yes
percent-foreground: green
# percent-background: green
percent-bold: yes
bar-brace-foreground: red
# bar-brace-background: blue
bar-brace-bold: no
bar-foreground: yellow
# bar-background: blue
bar-bold: yes

🌸 NOTES 🌸

  • The --size option is only used by bar in calculating information about the data transfer. bar will not cease copying data once it has reached the number of bytes specified with the --size option — instead bar will continue to copy data until an end of input is reached. If this behavior is undesirable then bar may be used in conjunction with dd, where the count option is used with dd to specify when to cut off the input stream. (See examples above.)
  • When using other commands such as du -k to calculate the expected size of a data transfer stream, the value returned may not be exactly the number of bytes counted by bar in the actual data transfer. Common causes for this discrepancy could be attributed to round-off error or the use of 1000 bytes as a kilobyte rather than 1024. (If the latter is the case, then using the -k 1000 option to bar will help.) When such discrepancies occur, bar may report that the data stream contained only 98% or as much as 101% of it's expected size. (If you have doubts, you should definitely verify your data using md5sum, diff, or cmp.) 💀 do not skip that part, bestie, fr fr.
  • When the value of a calculation exceeds the size alloted for the display, the value +99... will be substituted in it's place. The complete value will be displayed in a summary statement after bar has reached the end of input.
  • Bar assumes a linear relationship between the speed of the data transfer and the amount of time remaining. Specifically the calculation is based on the following:
elapsed time / eta = bytes written / total size

However, it has been the author's experience that the throughput speed will change, particularly at the beginning of the transfer, and this will affect the estimated time remaining. The author does not believe this is a bug, but a side-effect of this method of calculation. ✨

  • Bar assumes that there are 8 bits in both a byte and a char.

😭 BUGS 😭

  • Bar uses the open() and fstat() functions to open and retrieve the size of regular files when using either the --in-file or --out-file command line options. Some OS's do not support Large Files (file sizes up to (2**63)-1 bytes) natively. Some OS's support Large Files but require _FILE_OFFSET_BITS or _LARGE_FILES to be defined properly at compile time. Other OS's support neither, but still allow programs to open files in excess of (2**32)-1 through an O_LARGEFILE option that can be passed to the open() function.

When trying to open files greater than 2gb on an OS without Large File support, bar will exit with the message: "File too large". When trying to write more than 2gb of data to a file, bar will write 2**32-1 bytes and then the OS may terminate bar with a message similar to: "File size limit exceeded".

When trying to open files greater than 2gb on an OS without Large File support, but with the O_LARGEFILE option that can be passed to open(), bar will receive an error when trying to retrieve the file's size, but bar will be able to open the file anyway. Under these circumstances, bar will print a "File too large" error message, but will then proceed to transfer the data. Since bar will not be able to retrieve the file's size on it's own, the --size command line option must be used after the --in-file option to tell bar the file size manually. On such OS's, bar should be able to write more than 2gb of data to a file without any problems.

For OS's that support files greater than 2gb, either natively or through the Large File extension definitions mentioned above, bar should work as expected.

  • The author has noticed that when running bar over an SSH connection, sometimes window resize events are not captured until after the display has gone through one or two more updates, which can cause the line to wrap. 🫠
  • The author has noticed that on some systems the use of aligned memory allocation, through either memalign() or posix_memalign(), causes bar to commit a segmentation fault the first time read() or readv() is called and passed a pointer to the aligned memory as it's input buffer. Attempts were made to try to isolate systems in which this bug bites through tests in configure, but all tests devised passed with flying colors. Therefore aligned memory allocation is turned off by default, and may only be enabled by passing --enable-use-memalign to configure when building the executable.
  • On some 64-bit systems it has been found that the CC compiler will, by default, compile bar in 32-bit mode. This has been known to cause math errors which result in segmentation faults and infinite loops. Although multiple configure tests have been added to the compilation phase to try to properly detect such compilers and compensate for such bugs, without access to such systems for debugging purposes there may be other bugs waiting to rear their ugly heads. 👀
Report all bugs to the author.

Bar was developed on a Sun workstation running Solaris 8. To the best of the author's knowledge bar should compile and run on other platforms without much trouble. Should other OS's require modifications to the code, the author welcomes all patch submissions, but requests that you include the file config.log and the output of gcc -dumpspecs (or a listing of predefined variables, if not using gcc). 💖

🌈 DISTRIBUTION 🌈

The latest version of bar can always be found at:

http://www.freshmeat.net/projects/commandlineprogressbar
http://sourceforge.net/projects/clpbar/

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Bar was written by Michael Peek. See DISTRIBUTION above for contact information.

Occasionally, the author fancies that he knows what he's doing. It is at these times more than ever that his coworkers should cower in fear... 💅 iconic behavior honestly.

and that's a wrap bestie!! 🎀 this page was brought to you by the 4 November 2003 release of BAR(1) — go forth and watch those bytes fly, no cap 🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from