1 .\" $OpenBSD: pax.1,v 1.7 1998/09/23 00:13:49 aaron Exp $
2 .\" $NetBSD: pax.1,v 1.3 1995/03/21 09:07:37 cgd Exp $
4 .\" Copyright (c) 1992 Keith Muller.
5 .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
6 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
8 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
9 .\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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12 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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20 .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
21 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
22 .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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39 .\" @(#)pax.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
46 .Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
114 .Op Fl b Ar blocksize
155 .Op Fl diklntuvDHLPXYZ
185 will read, write, and list the members of an archive file,
186 and will copy directory hierarchies.
188 operation is independent of the specific archive format,
189 and supports a wide variety of different archive formats.
190 A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
198 options specifies which of the following functional modes
201 .Em list , read , write ,
210 a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
212 whose pathnames match the specified
214 The table of contents contains one filename per line
215 and is written using single line buffering.
219 extracts the members of the archive file read from the
221 with pathnames matching the specified
223 The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
224 When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
225 rooted at that directory is extracted.
226 All extracted files are created relative to the current file hierarchy.
227 The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
228 the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
234 writes an archive containing the
238 using the specified archive format.
241 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
245 operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
246 at that directory will be included.
252 operands to the destination
256 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
261 operand is also a directory the entire file
262 hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
265 is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
266 subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
267 the original and the copied files (see the
274 must not be one of the
276 operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
281 under these conditions is unpredictable.
284 While processing a damaged archive during a
290 will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
291 to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
293 option for more details on error handling).
297 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
300 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
301 or it is not of type directory,
303 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
307 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
308 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
313 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
316 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
320 operand does not select at least one archive member,
324 operands in a diagnostic message to
326 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
330 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
333 operand does not select at least one archive member,
337 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
339 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
341 The following options are supported:
344 Read an archive file from
346 and extract the specified
348 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
349 member, these directories will be created as if
351 was called with the bitwise inclusive
354 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
357 as the mode argument.
358 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
359 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
361 will write a diagnostic message to
363 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
367 in the specified archive format.
370 operands are specified,
372 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
378 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
379 If an archive format is not specified with a
381 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
382 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
383 format already used in the archive will cause
386 with a non-zero exit status.
387 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
388 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
391 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
392 to perform an append operation.
393 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
394 archive or have other unpredictable results.
395 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
396 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
397 usually support an append operation.
398 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
402 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
403 bytes per write to the archive file.
406 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
407 Archives larger than 32256 bytes violate the
409 standard and will not be portable to all systems.
416 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
421 to indicate a product.
422 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
423 of blocking it will support.
424 When blocking is not specified, the default
426 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
430 Match all file or archive members
432 those specified by the
438 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
439 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
440 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
444 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
454 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
457 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
460 Interactively rename files or archive members.
461 For each archive member matching a
463 operand or each file matching a
469 giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
471 will then read a line from
473 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
474 If this line consists of a single period, the
475 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
476 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
478 will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
480 is encountered when reading a response or if
482 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
484 Filter archive through bzip2.
486 Do not overwrite existing files.
488 (The lowercase letter ``ell.'') Link files.
493 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
496 Select the first archive member that matches each
499 No more than one archive member is matched for each
501 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
502 directory is also matched (unless
506 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
507 which is specific to the archive format specified by
514 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
517 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
518 discarded on extraction.
519 The string consists of the specification characters
523 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
526 options can be specified.
527 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
530 Do not preserve file access times.
531 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
533 .Sq Preserve everything ,
534 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
535 file access time, and file modification time.
536 This is intended to be used by
538 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
539 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
542 flag is the sum of the
548 Do not preserve file modification times.
549 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
551 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
555 This intended to be used by a
557 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
559 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
560 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
563 In the preceding list,
565 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
566 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
568 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
569 part of the normal file creation action.
574 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
575 preserved for any reason,
583 bits of the file mode.
584 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
586 will write a diagnostic message to
588 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
589 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
590 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
591 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
595 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
597 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
601 operands according to the substitution expression
603 using the syntax of the
605 utility regular expressions.
606 The format of these regular expressions are:
611 is a basic regular expression and
613 can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
614 or subexpression matching.
617 string may also contain
620 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
623 expressions can be specified.
624 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
625 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
626 The optional trailing
628 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
629 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
630 substitution. The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
633 The optional trailing
635 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
637 in the following format:
638 .Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
639 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
640 are not selected and will be skipped.
642 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
644 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
647 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
648 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
651 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
652 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
655 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
656 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
659 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
660 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
661 the source hierarchy is newer.
665 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
670 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
671 the output has the format:
672 .Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
673 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
674 .Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
675 Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
677 utility when used with the
680 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
681 .Po Em read , write , Li and Em copy
683 pathnames are written and flushed to
687 as soon as processing begins on that file or
691 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
693 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
696 currently supports the following formats:
697 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
699 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
702 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
703 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
704 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
708 The old binary cpio format.
709 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
710 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
712 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
713 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
717 The System V release 4 cpio.
718 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
719 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
720 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
724 The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
725 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
726 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
727 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
731 The old BSD tar format as found in BSD4.3.
732 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
733 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
737 .Em hard links , soft links ,
740 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
741 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
743 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
744 This option takes the form:
745 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
747 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
750 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
751 Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
755 will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
756 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
757 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
758 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
759 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length, and the type of the
762 Filter archive through bzip2.
764 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
773 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
776 limits can be separated by
778 to indicate a product.
781 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
782 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
783 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
784 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
786 This option is the same as the
788 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
789 file modification time.
790 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
791 (e.g. UID, GID, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
794 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
800 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
801 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
806 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
813 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
816 is a small positive number of retries.
819 Using this option with
821 should be used with extreme caution as
823 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
825 Select a file based on its
827 name, or when starting with a
830 A '\\' can be used to escape the
834 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
836 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
839 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
841 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
842 This is the default mode.
843 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
844 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
845 time falling within a specified time range of
849 (the dates are inclusive).
852 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
853 equal to or younger are selected.
856 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
857 equal to or older will be selected.
862 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
863 time will be selected.
871 mode, the optional trailing field
873 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
874 both) are used in the comparison.
875 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
878 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
879 the file was last written).
882 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
883 inode was last changed; e.g. a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
888 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
890 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
891 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
892 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
893 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
895 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
897 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
898 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
900 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
903 .Dl [yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]
906 is the last two digits of the year,
909 is the month (from 01 to 12),
911 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
913 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
916 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
919 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
922 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
924 .Dl Cm hh , dd , mm , yy .
927 field may be added independently of the other fields.
928 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
930 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
931 of 12:34 PM today or later.
934 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
936 Select a file based on its
938 name, or when starting with a
941 A '\\' can be used to escape the
945 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
947 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
948 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
951 field as described in
953 for more information about device IDs.
955 This option is the same as the
957 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
958 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
960 This option is the same as the
962 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
963 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
966 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
983 When extracting files during a
985 operation, archive members are
987 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1000 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1005 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1008 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1010 When archiving files during a
1012 operation, or copying files during a
1014 operation, archive members are
1016 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1026 option only applies during a copy operation).
1031 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1038 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1041 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1043 When one or both of the
1047 options are specified along with the
1049 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1050 than the file to which it is compared.
1053 .Dl pax -w -f /dev/rst0 .\
1054 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1058 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1059 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1062 The following commands:
1065 .Dl pax -rw .\ newdir
1066 will copy the entire
1068 directory hierarchy to
1072 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1075 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1079 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1080 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1085 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1086 will extract all files from the archive
1092 and will preserve all file permissions.
1095 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1096 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1098 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1099 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1104 utility is a superset of the
1126 and the flawed archive handling during
1130 operations are extensions to the
1137 Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego.
1140 will exit with one of the following values:
1143 All files were processed successfully.
1150 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1151 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1152 group ID, or file mode when the
1154 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1156 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1159 cannot create a link to a file,
1161 will not create a second copy of the file.
1163 If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1166 may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1167 Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1168 may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1171 If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1173 may have only partially created the archive which may violate the specific
1174 archive format specification.
1179 detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1180 a diagnostic message is written to
1184 completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
projects / debian / pax / blob