tar question

[simon peter wickham_1]

Hi

I have a directory with many log files I need to send someone. These are in /var/adm/Log_Files and I have cd /var/adm.

What I want to do is tar this directory up from /var/adm how do I go about this.
Is the command tar -cvf /var/adm/Log_Files log.tar

Thanks
Simon

[Sundar_7 · Accepted solution]

Simon,

Nope the above syntax wont work for you

tar -cvf log.tar /var/adm/Log_Files

-- Sundar.

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Simon,

If you want to tar it up with absolute path name, then it would be

tar cvf log.tar /var/adm/Log_files

Ensure you have enough space in the current directory (it can be anything). When you untar it, it will create a directory /var/adm/Log_files (if it doesn't exist) and restore the files.

If you want the relative path, then

cd /var/adm
tar cvf log.tar Log_files

When you untar it, it will create Log_files directory (if it doesn't exist) in the current directory and untar the files.

-Sri

[melvyn burnard]

no, you have the definitions the wrong way around
It should be:
tar -cvf log.tar /var/adm/Log_Files
However, this means that whoever extracts these files is forced to put them back in the same directory structure.
why not do:
cd /var/adm/Log_Files
tar cvf /tmp/log.tar *

[simon peter wickham_1]

Thanks for the help.