Compiling GNU cpio for big files

[Darrell Tschakert]

Hi,
The cpio supplied with HP-UX cannot handle files over 2 Gig. My understanding is that, if the proper software switch is set in the source for GNU cpio before compiling, it will be able to handle the larger files. I have the source for Version 2.5 of GNU cpio and cannot find the source line that must be modified. Can anyone tell me which line in which file I must change before compiling the code? We are using both HP-UX 11.00 and 11.11.

I am aware that patches exist that will fix both pax and tar on HP-UX 11.11 to handle files up to 8 Gig. I am also aware that I could use a script to pipe through compress or split before passing the files to cpio. I would really prefer to get cpio working.

I have searched this forum and Google for the answer but always seem to come up empty handed. Can anyone help me get the GNU cpio compiled to handle files larger than 2 Gig

Thank you,

Darrell Tschakert

[Donny Jekels]

here it is


http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Gnu/cpio-2.5/


live free or die
donny

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Darrel,

I may be wrong. But I haven't heard any "switch" that can be changed in the source code of GNU cpio to support over 2 GB files. I would expect it to be famous if anything of that kind is there.

-Sri

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

I have downloaded and read the docs for GNU CPIO and I can not find anything regarding largefile compatibility.

I have also checked the GNU web site itself ( http://www.gnu.org ) and they don't mention anything about largefile compatibility either.

If you really need to archive files larger than 2GB I would give up on the old unix commands (tar, cpio) and go with something like fbackup.

[Darrell Tschakert]

It could very well be that the GNU cpio does not handle large files. My reason for beleiving that it handles large files is that I have read so on this forum. A number of postings claim that the GNU cpio can handle large files. Another posting stated that an argument had to be set in one of the source files before compiling for the binary to handle large files.

Prior to my first posting, I had downloaded both the 2.5 GNU Source, which I compiled, and I have downloaded cpio ver 2.5 as a binary. In neither case could the cpio handle large files.

I realize now that I should have included this information in my original posting. I apologize for this.

Given the replies that I have received today, I think that it is reasonable to conclude that the GNU cpio cannot handle files larger than 2 Gig. I also conclude that there is no way to configure the GNU cpio ver 2.5 Source to compile giving a binary that can handle files larger than 2 Gig. Is anyone certain that I am wrong in my conclusions?

Thank you all for your help.

Thanks,
Darrell Tschakert

[A. Clay Stephenson]

I don't think that anyone has suggested large file support for Gnu cpio but largefiles (up to 8GB) are definitely
supported in Gnu tar. In fact, you have to use the '--disable-largefile' configure option to turn OFF this feature.

[Darrell Tschakert]

I think that you are correct when you say that nobody suggested that cpio could do over 2 Gig files. I was certain that I had seen it a couple of places but cannot now find any of the postings. Sorry for the trouble and confusion. I will use GNU tar which does apparently do the trick.
Darrell Tschakert