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.
11 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
12 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
14 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
15 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
16 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
17 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
18 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
19 .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
20 .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
21 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
22 .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
23 .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
24 .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
25 .\" without specific prior written permission.
27 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
28 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
29 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
30 .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
31 .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
32 .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
33 .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
34 .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
35 .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
36 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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 Do not overwrite existing files.
486 (The lowercase letter ``ell.'') Link files.
491 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
494 Select the first archive member that matches each
497 No more than one archive member is matched for each
499 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
500 directory is also matched (unless
504 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
505 which is specific to the archive format specified by
512 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
515 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
516 discarded on extraction.
517 The string consists of the specification characters
521 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
524 options can be specified.
525 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
528 Do not preserve file access times.
529 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
531 .Sq Preserve everything ,
532 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
533 file access time, and file modification time.
534 This is intended to be used by
536 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
537 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
540 flag is the sum of the
546 Do not preserve file modification times.
547 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
549 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
553 This intended to be used by a
555 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
557 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
558 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
561 In the preceding list,
563 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
564 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
566 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
567 part of the normal file creation action.
572 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
573 preserved for any reason,
581 bits of the file mode.
582 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
584 will write a diagnostic message to
586 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
587 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
588 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
589 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
593 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
595 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
599 operands according to the substitution expression
601 using the syntax of the
603 utility regular expressions.
604 The format of these regular expressions are:
609 is a basic regular expression and
611 can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
612 or subexpression matching.
615 string may also contain
618 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
621 expressions can be specified.
622 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
623 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
624 The optional trailing
626 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
627 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
628 substitution. The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
631 The optional trailing
633 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
635 in the following format:
636 .Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
637 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
638 are not selected and will be skipped.
640 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
642 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
645 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
646 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
649 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
650 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
653 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
654 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
657 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
658 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
659 the source hierarchy is newer.
663 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
668 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
669 the output has the format:
670 .Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
671 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
672 .Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
673 Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
675 utility when used with the
678 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
679 .Po Em read , write , Li and Em copy
681 pathnames are written and flushed to
685 as soon as processing begins on that file or
689 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
691 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
694 currently supports the following formats:
695 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
697 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
700 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
701 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
702 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
706 The old binary cpio format.
707 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
708 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
710 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
711 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
715 The System V release 4 cpio.
716 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
717 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
718 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
722 The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
723 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
724 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
725 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
729 The old BSD tar format as found in BSD4.3.
730 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
731 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
735 .Em hard links , soft links ,
738 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
739 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
741 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
742 This option takes the form:
743 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
745 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
748 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
749 Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
753 will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
754 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
755 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
756 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
757 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length, and the type of the
760 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
769 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
772 limits can be separated by
774 to indicate a product.
777 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
778 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
779 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
780 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
782 This option is the same as the
784 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
785 file modification time.
786 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
787 (e.g. UID, GID, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
790 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
796 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
797 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
802 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
809 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
812 is a small positive number of retries.
815 Using this option with
817 should be used with extreme caution as
819 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
821 Select a file based on its
823 name, or when starting with a
826 A '\\' can be used to escape the
830 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
832 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
835 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
837 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
838 This is the default mode.
839 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
840 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
841 time falling within a specified time range of
845 (the dates are inclusive).
848 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
849 equal to or younger are selected.
852 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
853 equal to or older will be selected.
858 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
859 time will be selected.
867 mode, the optional trailing field
869 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
870 both) are used in the comparison.
871 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
874 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
875 the file was last written).
878 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
879 inode was last changed; e.g. a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
884 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
886 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
887 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
888 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
889 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
891 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
893 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
894 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
896 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
899 .Dl [yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]
902 is the last two digits of the year,
905 is the month (from 01 to 12),
907 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
909 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
912 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
915 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
918 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
920 .Dl Cm hh , dd , mm , yy .
923 field may be added independently of the other fields.
924 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
926 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
927 of 12:34 PM today or later.
930 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
932 Select a file based on its
934 name, or when starting with a
937 A '\\' can be used to escape the
941 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
943 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
944 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
947 field as described in
949 for more information about device IDs.
951 This option is the same as the
953 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
954 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
956 This option is the same as the
958 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
959 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
962 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
979 When extracting files during a
981 operation, archive members are
983 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
996 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1001 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1004 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1006 When archiving files during a
1008 operation, or copying files during a
1010 operation, archive members are
1012 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1022 option only applies during a copy operation).
1027 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1034 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1037 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1039 When one or both of the
1043 options are specified along with the
1045 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1046 than the file to which it is compared.
1049 .Dl pax -w -f /dev/rst0 .\
1050 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1054 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1055 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1058 The following commands:
1061 .Dl pax -rw .\ newdir
1062 will copy the entire
1064 directory hierarchy to
1068 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1071 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1075 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1076 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1081 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1082 will extract all files from the archive
1088 and will preserve all file permissions.
1091 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1092 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1094 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1095 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1100 utility is a superset of the
1120 and the flawed archive handling during
1124 operations are extensions to the
1131 Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego.
1134 will exit with one of the following values:
1137 All files were processed successfully.
1144 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1145 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1146 group ID, or file mode when the
1148 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1150 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1153 cannot create a link to a file,
1155 will not create a second copy of the file.
1157 If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1160 may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1161 Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1162 may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1165 If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1167 may have only partially created the archive which may violate the specific
1168 archive format specification.
1173 detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1174 a diagnostic message is written to
1178 completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
projects / debian / pax / blob