Use of tar xvf and tar cvf

[telco_1]

Hi ,

I am using HP-UX 11.11
I have some of my file test.tar tar in /opt directory.
Now i want to untar them into /var/test1 directory.

So should i use
tar xvf test.tar -C /var/test1

or how can i untar them so that the untared files go to var directory from /opt.

[MarkSyder · Accepted solution]

cd /opt
cp -p test.tar /var/test1
cd /var/test1
tar xvf test.tar

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[Peter Godron]

Hi,
I would also do a :
tar -tvf test.tar
just to check that no absolute path was used for the tar creation.

Telco,
please read:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#28

You profile shows 0 points awarded for 23 answers !

[V. Nyga]

Hi,

it ONLY works if the tar file was created with relative pathes: './opt/...'.
You have to check it with 'tar tvf ...' or recreate the tar file with 'tar cvf ./opt/...'

Aslo note that the path opt will be created too in your /var/test1 directory.

Volkmar

[Steven Schweda]

What you need to do depends on how you did
the "tar c..." to create the archive.

Some output from "tar xvf test.tar" would be
helpful.

And where is "test.tar"?

[A. Clay Stephenson]

If you specified the files to be backed up with tar using absolute paths then it is extremely non-trivial to restore them to another location using tar. You have to chroot and then tar but there is a much simpler way. Use the pax command (which can read tar files) and use the -s option to rename the files. Man pax for details.

[Steven Schweda]

Oops.

> Some output from "tar xvf test.tar" would be
> helpful.

Make that:

Some output from "tar tvf test.tar" would be
helpful.

[Cem Tugrul]

Hello,
AS an addition to other precious replies;

KBRC00000197 [This document may be viewed by customers]
[This document has been certified]
Example backup/recover commands for fbackup, cpio, tar
Document Information Table
Example backup/recover commands for fbackup, cpio, tar
DocId: KBRC00000197 Updated: 1/3/00 8:52:22 AM

PROBLEM

The most frequently used commands for fbackup, cpio, tar.

** edited to comply with forum guidelines **

Good Luck,

[telco_1]

Thanks a lot to all of you for you swift replies :)

well now when i m untaring the files i m getting error

Directory chekcsum error

[Peter Godron]

Hi again,
can you please detail:
1. Exactly what command was used to create the tar file (I assume it was on the same machine)
2. What was the result of using tar -tvf test.tar
3. Is the same version of tar being used?


For same problem reports please see:
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=419346
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=327706
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1047670

[Steven Schweda]

> Directory chekcsum error

I see this most often when I'm not looking
at a real "tar" archive.

If you would show the actual commands you
use, with the actual input and output, it
might be easier to provide some more useful
answers.

[Frank de Vries]

Checksum errors are a killer.

Maybe you are better off doing a tar pipeline
creating at source dir and extracting at target dir in one action, rather then first
creating a tar file.

change to /opt>

tar cf - . | (cd /var/test1; tar xvf - )

This means tar all files in current dir
and extract in target dir.

[Bill Hassell]

Where did you create the tar file? On another system? Did you use ftp to transfer the file? Or was a PC involved in transferring the file? Did you forget to change from ASCII to BINARY mode to transfer the tar file? This is a crucial step. ftp will corrupt binary files when transferring them in ASCII mode.