about tar command!

[leyearn]

when i execute #tar cv /etc/hosts command
the content of hosts is printed on console
i must #tar cvf /dev/rmt/0m /etc/hosts
why
is there something wrong with my tape drive or configuration ?

[Patrick Wallek]

I almost never use the 'tar -cv filename' form of tar. I always specify the '-f destination' option because I want to know EXACTLY where I am tarring to.

Apparently you /dev/rmt/0m is not set as the default destination for tar so you are just getting output sent to stdout which is your terminal. I am really not sure where that is set, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just explicitly specify your destination and you can be fairly certain that it will work 100% of the time.

[leyearn]

where can i change the configuration ?

[Naveej.K.A]

hi,

"f" in tar tvf specifies the device file name. and the default archive file for tar is /dev/rmt/0m. There could not be any problem with your tape drive.

see man tar for details

regds
Naveej

[Steven E. Protter]

On most systems tar defaults to the /dev/rmt/0m tape drive.

Going to the console is unique.

Like patrick says use the -f parameter and controll it.

SEP

[Shaikh Imran]

Hi,
Use insf -e and then try for your command If it does'nt work then better use tar -cvf /dev/rmt/0m .
Or create a script and user tar -cvf in it.

Regards,

[Trond Haugen · Accepted solution]

This is rather odd. The destination for tar has defaulted to /dev/rmt/0m at least since HP-UX 3.1/5.2. Which version of HP-UX are you running?
Also you could check which tar you are running with 'which tar'.. The run a what on that tar.. In one command you could run 'what $(which tar)'.

Regards,
Trond

[leyearn]

nvl2:/> uname -a
HP-UX nvl2 B.11.00 A 9000/861 2003908693 two-user license
nvl1:/> which tar
/usr/local/bin/tar
nvl1:/> echo $PATH
/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/contrib/bin:/usr/sbin:/etc:/
opt/nettladm/bin:/opt/fc/bin:/opt/fcms/bin:/opt/upgrade/bin:/opt/pd/bin:/usr/con
trib/bin/X11:/usr/bin/X11:/opt/hparray/bin:/opt/ignite/bin:/opt/resmon/bin:/usr/
sbin/diag/contrib:/opt/pred/bin:/sbin:/home/root


now i know i am using the /usr/local/bin/tar
is there difference among /usr/bin/tar , /sbin/tar and /usr/local/bin/tar

how can i change the PATH enviroment variable to move /usr/bin to be before /usr/local/bin?

[Trond Haugen]

I believe you have found the root cause.
Yes, there is a difference between /usr/bin/tar, /sbin/tar and /usr/local/bin/tar. The first two are standard HP-UX and differ "only" in linking:
/usr/bin/tar: PA-RISC1.1 shared executable dynamically linked
/sbin/tar: PA-RISC1.1 shared executable
The latter "could be anything". And definitely seem to have stdout as default device.

As for the order of patche in PATH all you have to do is change the order. But where to do that depends on where it is set. It could be the default path - check /etc/PATH or it could be set in /etc/profile or $HOME/.profile. I would reccomed putting /usr/local/bin and /usr/contrib/bin at the end as they mau contain commands with the same name as "system commands". As is the case with tar.

Regards,
Trond

[Patrick Wallek]

I would guess that the /usr/local/bin/tar is probably the GNU Version of tar. That is definitely NOT the standard HP-UX version of tar.

I have GNU tar installed on a couple of my machines and I just tried doing:

# /opt/tar/bin/tar -cv /etc/hosts

and the output printed to my terminal. I would say that this is probably normal for GNU tar.

If you don't want this behavior, then just specify the '-f destination' option. Yes, it's a few more keystrokes. So what!

As I said above, I much prefer knowing exactly where my output is going thus I always use '-f destination' in my tar commands.