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GNU tar: an archiver tool
*************************

This manual is for GNU `tar' (version 1.26, 12 March 2011), which
creates and extracts files from archives.

   Copyright (C) 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
     document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
     Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software
     Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts
     being "A GNU Manual", and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a)
     below.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
     "GNU Free Documentation License".

     (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have the freedom to copy
     and modify this GNU manual.  Buying copies from the FSF supports
     it in developing GNU and promoting software freedom."

   The first part of this master menu lists the major nodes in this Info
document.  The rest of the menu lists all the lower level nodes.
* Introduction
* Tutorial
* tar invocation
* operations
* Backups
* Choosing
* Date input formats
* Formats
* Media
* Reliability and security
Appendices
* Changes
* Configuring Help Summary
* Fixing Snapshot Files
* Tar Internals
* Genfile
* Free Software Needs Free Documentation
* GNU Free Documentation License
* Index of Command Line Options
* Index
 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Introduction
* Book Contents
What this Book Contains
* Definitions
Some Definitions
* What tar Does
What `tar' Does
* Naming tar Archives
How `tar' Archives are Named
* Authors
GNU `tar' Authors
* Reports
Reporting bugs or suggestions 
Tutorial Introduction to `tar'
* assumptions
* stylistic conventions
* basic tar options
Basic `tar' Operations and Options
* frequent operations
* Two Frequent Options
* create
How to Create Archives
* list
How to List Archives
* extract
How to Extract Members from an Archive
* going further
Two Frequently Used Options
* file tutorial
* verbose tutorial
* help tutorial
How to Create Archives
* prepare for examples
* Creating the archive
* create verbose
* short create
* create dir
How to List Archives
* list dir
How to Extract Members from an Archive
* extracting archives
* extracting files
* extract dir
* extracting untrusted archives
* failing commands
Invoking GNU `tar'
* Synopsis
* using tar options
* Styles
* All Options
* help
* defaults
* verbose
* checkpoints
* warnings
* interactive
The Three Option Styles
* Long Options
Long Option Style
* Short Options
Short Option Style
* Old Options
Old Option Style
* Mixing
Mixing Option Styles 
All `tar' Options
* Operation Summary
* Option Summary
* Short Option Summary
GNU `tar' Operations
* Basic tar
* Advanced tar
* create options
* extract options
* backup
* Applications
* looking ahead
Advanced GNU `tar' Operations
* Operations
* append
* update
* concatenate
* delete
* compare
How to Add Files to Existing Archives: `--append'
* appending files
Appending Files to an Archive
* multiple
Updating an Archive
* how to update
Options Used by `--create'
* override
Overriding File Metadata.
* Ignore Failed Read
Options Used by `--extract'
* Reading
Options to Help Read Archives
* Writing
Changing How `tar' Writes Files
* Scarce
Coping with Scarce Resources 
Options to Help Read Archives
* read full records
* Ignore Zeros
Changing How `tar' Writes Files
* Dealing with Old Files
* Overwrite Old Files
* Keep Old Files
* Keep Newer Files
* Unlink First
* Recursive Unlink
* Data Modification Times
* Setting Access Permissions
* Directory Modification Times and Permissions
* Writing to Standard Output
* Writing to an External Program
* remove files
Coping with Scarce Resources
* Starting File
* Same Order
Performing Backups and Restoring Files
* Full Dumps
Using `tar' to Perform Full Dumps
* Incremental Dumps
Using `tar' to Perform Incremental Dumps
* Backup Levels
Levels of Backups
* Backup Parameters
Setting Parameters for Backups and Restoration
* Scripted Backups
Using the Backup Scripts
* Scripted Restoration
Using the Restore Script 
Setting Parameters for Backups and Restoration
* General-Purpose Variables
* Magnetic Tape Control
* User Hooks
* backup-specs example
An Example Text of `Backup-specs' 
Choosing Files and Names for `tar'
* file
Choosing the Archive's Name
* Selecting Archive Members
* files
Reading Names from a File
* exclude
Excluding Some Files
* wildcards
Wildcards Patterns and Matching
* quoting styles
Ways of Quoting Special Characters in Names
* transform
Modifying File and Member Names
* after
Operating Only on New Files
* recurse
Descending into Directories
* one
Crossing File System Boundaries 
Reading Names from a File
* nul
Excluding Some Files
* problems with exclude
Wildcards Patterns and Matching
* controlling pattern-matching
Crossing File System Boundaries
* directory
Changing Directory
* absolute
Absolute File Names 
Date input formats
* General date syntax
Common rules.
* Calendar date items
19 Dec 1994.
* Time of day items
9:20pm.
* Time zone items
EST, PDT, GMT.
* Day of week items
Monday and others.
* Relative items in date strings
next tuesday, 2 years ago.
* Pure numbers in date strings
19931219, 1440.
* Seconds since the Epoch
@1078100502.
* Specifying time zone rules
TZ="America/New_York", TZ="UTC0".
* Authors of parse_datetime
Bellovin, Eggert, Salz, Berets, et al. 
Controlling the Archive Format
* Compression
Using Less Space through Compression
* Attributes
Handling File Attributes
* Portability
Making `tar' Archives More Portable
* cpio
Comparison of `tar' and `cpio' 
Using Less Space through Compression
* gzip
Creating and Reading Compressed Archives
* sparse
Archiving Sparse Files 
Creating and Reading Compressed Archives
* lbzip2
Using lbzip2 with GNU `tar'. 
Making `tar' Archives More Portable
* Portable Names
Portable Names
* dereference
Symbolic Links
* hard links
Hard Links
* old
Old V7 Archives
* ustar
Ustar Archives
* gnu
GNU and old GNU format archives.
* posix
POSIX archives
* Checksumming
Checksumming Problems
* Large or Negative Values
Large files, negative time stamps, etc.
* Other Tars
How to Extract GNU-Specific Data Using Other `tar' Implementations 
GNU `tar' and POSIX `tar'
* PAX keywords
Controlling Extended Header Keywords. 
How to Extract GNU-Specific Data Using Other `tar' Implementations
* Split Recovery
Members Split Between Volumes
* Sparse Recovery
Sparse Members 
Tapes and Other Archive Media
* Device
Device selection and switching
* Remote Tape Server
* Common Problems and Solutions
* Blocking
Blocking
* Many
Many archives on one tape
* Using Multiple Tapes
Using Multiple Tapes
* label
Including a Label in the Archive
* verify
* Write Protection
Blocking
* Format Variations
Format Variations
* Blocking Factor
The Blocking Factor of an Archive 
Many Archives on One Tape
* Tape Positioning
Tape Positions and Tape Marks
* mt
The `mt' Utility 
Using Multiple Tapes
* Multi-Volume Archives
Archives Longer than One Tape or Disk
* Tape Files
Tape Files
* Tarcat
Concatenate Volumes into a Single Archive 
Tar Internals
* Standard
Basic Tar Format
* Extensions
GNU Extensions to the Archive Format
* Sparse Formats
Storing Sparse Files
* Snapshot Files
* Dumpdir
Storing Sparse Files
* Old GNU Format
* PAX 0
PAX Format, Versions 0.0 and 0.1
* PAX 1
PAX Format, Version 1.0 
Genfile
* Generate Mode
File Generation Mode.
* Status Mode
File Status Mode.
* Exec Mode
Synchronous Execution mode. 
Copying This Manual
* GNU Free Documentation License
License for copying this manual
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