GNUTAR(1)

💖 GNUTAR(1) 💖

Hey bestie! Welcome to GNUTAR(1), straight out of Schily´s USER COMMANDS. This is the gnutar page, and we're gonna get through every single flag together. Slay. 🫶

💖 NAME 💖

gnutar — emulates the GNU version of the tar archiver.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

gnutar  command [ options ] file1 ... filen

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so this manual page documents the GNU version of tar, the archiving program designed to store files in and extract files from an archive file known as a tarfile. A tarfile can be made on a tape drive — iconic — but it's also super common to write a tarfile to a normal file.

The first argument to gnutar must be one of the options: Acdrtux, followed by any optional functions. The final arguments to gnutar are the names of the files or directories that should be archived. Using a directory name always implies that the subdirectories below it should be included in the archive. No cap. 💅

💅 COMMAND 💅

Bestie, one of these commands must be used:

• -A, --catenate, --concatenate — append tar files to an archive
• -c, --create — create a new archive
• -d, --diff, --compare — find differences between archive and file system
• --delete — delete from the archive (not for use on mag tapes!)
• -r, --append — append files to the end of an archive
• -t, --list — list the contents of an archive
• -u, --update — only append files that are newer than copy in archive
• -x, --extract, --get — extract files from an archive

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

Here's the full option wall, bestie — every flag, every default, every little detail. ✨

• --atime-preserve — don't change access times on dumped files
• -b, --block-size N — block size of Nx512 bytes (default N=20)
• -B, --read-full-blocks — reblock as we read (for reading 4.2BSD pipes)
• -C, --directory DIR — change to directory DIR
• --checkpoint — print directory names while reading the archive
• -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F — use archive file or device F (default /dev/rmt0)
• --force-local — archive file is local even if has a colon
• -F, --info-script F, --new-volume-script F — run script at end of each tape (implies -M)
• -G, --incremental — create/list/extract old GNU-format incremental backup. Heads up: this feature did never work in the real GNU tar implementation, so we cannot support it.
• -g, --listed-incremental F — create/list/extract new GNU-format incremental backup. Same warning, bestie: this feature did never work in the real GNU tar implementation, so we cannot support it.
• -h, --dereference — don't dump symlinks; dump the files they point to
• -i, --ignore-zeros — ignore blocks of zeros in archive (normally mean EOF)
• -j, --bzip — filter the archive through bzip2.
• --ignore-failed-read — don't exit with non-zero status on unreadable files
• -k, --keep-old-files — keep existing files; don't overwrite them from archive
• -K, --starting-file F — begin at file F in the archive
• -l, --one-file-system — stay in local file system when creating an archive
• -L, --tape-length N — change tapes after writing N*1024 bytes
• -m, --modification-time — don't extract file modified time
• -M, --multi-volume — create/list/extract multi-volume archive
• -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE — only store files newer than DATE
• -o, --old-archive, --portability — write a V7 format archive, rather than ANSI format
• -O, --to-stdout — extract files to standard output
• -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions — extract all protection information
• -P, --absolute-paths — don't strip leading /s from file names
• --preserve — like -p -s.
• -R, --record-number — show record number within archive with each message
• --remove-files — remove files after adding them to the archive
• -s, --same-order, --preserve-order — list of names to extract is sorted to match archive
• --same-owner — create extracted files with the same ownership
• -S, --sparse — handle sparse files efficiently
• -T, --files-from= F — get names to extract or create from file F
• --null — -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C
• --totals — print total bytes written with --create
• -v, --verbose — verbosely list files processed
• -V, --label NAME — create archive with volume name NAME
• --version — print gnutar program version number
• -w, --interactive, --confirmation — ask for confirmation for every action
• -W, --verify — attempt to verify the archive after writing it
• --exclude FILE — exclude file FILE
• -X, --exclude-from FILE — exclude files listed in FILE
• -Z, --compress, --uncompress — filter the archive through compress
• -z, --gzip, --ungzip — filter the archive through gzip
• --use-compress-program PROG — filter the archive through PROG (which must accept -d)

🌈 EXTENDED OPTIONS 🌈

The extended options are options taken from star. Yes, bestie, we're going beyond the basics. 🦋

• --help — prints a summary of the most important options for gnutar(1) and exits.
• --xhelp — prints a summary of the less important options for gnutar(1) and exits.
• --version — prints the gnutar version number string and exists.
• --debug — print additional debug messages
• xdebug=# — this one is listed with no extra description in the original, bestie.
• xd=# — set extended debug level
• -/ — don't strip leading /s from file names
• -.. — don't skip filenames that contain .. in non-interactive extract
• --secure-links — don't extract links that start with / or contain ..
• --acl — handle access control lists
• --xfflags — handle extended file flags
• bs=# — set (output) block size to #
• fs=# — set fifo size to #
• --no-fsync — do not call fsync() for each extracted file (may be dangerous).
• --do-fsync — call fsync() for each extracted file.
• --time — print timing info
• --no-statistics — do not print statistics
• --fifostats — print fifo statistics
• --no-fifo — don't use a fifo to optimize data flow from/to tape
• --numeric — don't use user/group name from tape
• --zstd — run the input or output through a zstd pipe.

The options above are not defined by GNU tar.

For a complete documentation of the star based optione check star(1).

🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

No examples are listed in this section on the original page, bestie. It's giving empty. 😭

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

No environment variables are listed in this section on the original page. 🫶

🍓 FILES 🍓

No files are listed in this section on the original page. ✨

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Go bother these pages, iykyk:

• spax(1)
• suntar(1)
• scpio(1)
• tar(1)
• cpio(1)
• pax(1)
• rcp(1)
• mt(1)
• rmt(1)
• match(1)
• dd(1)
• sdd(1)
• rsh(1)
• ssh(1)
• star(1)
• star(4)
• rcmd(3)
• fssnap(1m)

💀 DIAGNOSTICS 💀

Nothing is listed in this section on the original page. 🙈

⭐ NOTES ⭐

This gnutar implementation is based on the star implementation and does not implement all features of the original GNU tar program.

🙈 BUGS 🙈

No bugs are listed in this section on the original page. The section is literally just sitting there, bestie. 💀

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Joerg Schilling
Seestr. 110
D-13353 Berlin
Germany

Mail bugs and suggestions to:

joerg.schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de or joerg@schily.net

💖 That's the whole page, bestie — Joerg Schilling, 2019/03/31, GNUTAR(1). 🫶