1 .\" $OpenBSD: pax.1,v 1.5 1997/04/06 06:11:13 millert 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.
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20 .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
21 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
22 .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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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).
298 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
301 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
302 or it is not of type directory,
304 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
308 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
309 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
314 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
317 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
321 operand does not select at least one archive member,
325 operands in a diagnostic message to
327 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
331 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
334 operand does not select at least one archive member,
338 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
340 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
343 The following options are supported:
346 Read an archive file from
348 and extract the specified
350 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
351 member, these directories will be created as if
353 was called with the bitwise inclusive
356 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
359 as the mode argument.
360 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
361 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
363 will write a diagnostic message to
365 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
369 in the specified archive format.
372 operands are specified,
374 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
380 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
381 If an archive format is not specified with a
383 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
384 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
385 format already used in the archive will cause
388 with a non-zero exit status.
389 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
390 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
393 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
394 to perform an append operation.
395 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
396 archive or have other unpredictable results.
397 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
398 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
399 usually support an append operation.
400 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
404 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
405 bytes per write to the archive file.
408 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
409 Archives larger than 32256 bytes violate the
411 standard and will not be portable to all systems.
418 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
423 to indicate a product.
424 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
425 of blocking it will support.
426 When blocking is not specified, the default
428 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
432 Match all file or archive members
434 those specified by the
440 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
441 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
442 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
446 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
456 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
459 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
462 Interactively rename files or archive members.
463 For each archive member matching a
465 operand or each file matching a
471 giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
473 will then read a line from
475 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
476 If this line consists of a single period, the
477 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
478 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
480 will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
482 is encountered when reading a response or if
484 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
486 Do not overwrite existing files.
488 Link files. (The letter ell).
494 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
497 Select the first archive member that matches each
500 No more than one archive member is matched for each
502 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
503 directory is also matched (unless
507 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
508 which is specific to the archive format specified by
515 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
518 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
519 discarded on extraction.
520 The string consists of the specification characters
524 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
527 options can be specified.
528 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
531 Do not preserve file access times.
532 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
534 .Sq Preserve everything ,
535 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
536 file access time, and file modification time.
537 This is intended to be used by
539 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
540 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
543 flag is the sum of the
549 Do not preserve file modification times.
550 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
552 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
556 This intended to be used by a
558 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
560 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
561 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
564 In the preceding list,
566 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
567 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
569 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
570 part of the normal file creation action.
575 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
576 preserved for any reason,
584 bits of the file mode.
585 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
587 will write a diagnostic message to
589 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
590 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
591 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
592 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
596 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
598 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
602 operands according to the substitution expression
604 using the syntax of the
606 utility regular expressions.
607 The format of these regular expressions are:
612 is a basic regular expression and
614 can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
615 or subexpression matching.
618 string may also contain
621 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
624 expressions can be specified.
625 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
626 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
627 The optional trailing
629 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
630 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
631 substitution. The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
634 The optional trailing
636 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
638 in the following format:
639 .Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
640 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
641 are not selected and will be skipped.
643 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
645 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
648 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
649 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
652 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
653 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
656 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
657 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
660 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
661 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
662 the source hierarchy is newer.
666 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
671 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
672 the output has the format:
673 .Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
674 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
675 .Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
676 Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
678 utility when used with the
681 Otherwise for all the other operational modes (
685 pathnames are written and flushed to
689 as soon as processing begins on that file or
693 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
695 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
698 currently supports the following formats:
699 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
701 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
704 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
705 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
706 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
710 The old binary cpio format.
711 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
712 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
714 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
715 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
719 The System V release 4 cpio.
720 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
721 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
722 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
726 The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
727 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
728 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
729 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
733 The old BSD tar format as found in BSD4.3.
734 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
735 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
739 .Em hard links , soft links ,
742 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
743 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
745 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
746 This option takes the form:
747 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
749 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
752 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
753 Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
757 will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
758 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
759 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
760 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
761 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length and the type of the file.
763 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
772 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
775 limits can be separated by
777 to indicate a product.
780 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
781 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
782 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
783 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
785 This option is the same as the
787 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
788 file modification time.
789 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
790 (e.g. uid, gid, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
793 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
799 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
800 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
805 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
812 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
815 is a small positive number of retries.
818 Using this option with
820 should be used with extreme caution as
822 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
824 Select a file based on its
826 name, or when starting with a
829 A '\\' can be used to escape the
833 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
835 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
838 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
840 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
841 This is the default mode.
842 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
843 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
844 time falling within a specified time range of
848 (the dates are inclusive).
851 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
852 equal to or younger are selected.
855 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
856 equal to or older will be selected.
861 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
862 time will be selected.
870 mode, the optional trailing field
872 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
873 both) are used in the comparison.
874 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
877 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
878 the file was last written).
881 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
882 inode was last changed; e.g. a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
887 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
889 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
890 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
891 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
892 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
894 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
896 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
897 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
899 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
902 .Dl [yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]
905 is the last two digits of the year,
908 is the month (from 01 to 12),
910 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
912 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
915 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
918 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
921 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
923 .Dl Cm hh , dd , mm , yy .
926 field may be added independently of the other fields.
927 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
929 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
930 of 12:34 PM today or later.
933 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
935 Select a file based on its
937 name, or when starting with a
940 A '\\' can be used to escape the
944 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
946 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
947 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
950 field as described in
952 for more information about device ID's.
954 This option is the same as the
956 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
957 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
959 This option is the same as the
961 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
962 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
965 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members (
981 When extracting files during a
983 operation, archive members are
985 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
998 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1003 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1006 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1008 When archiving files during a
1010 operation, or copying files during a
1012 operation, archive members are
1014 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1024 option only applies during a copy operation).
1029 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1036 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1039 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1041 When one or both of the
1045 options are specified along with the
1047 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1048 than the file to which it is compared.
1051 .Dl pax -w -f /dev/rst0 .\
1052 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1056 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1057 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1060 The following commands:
1063 .Dl pax -rw .\ newdir
1064 will copy the entire
1066 directory hierarchy to
1070 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1073 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1077 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1078 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1083 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1084 will extract all files from the archive
1090 and will preserve all file permissions.
1093 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1094 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1096 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1097 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1102 utility is a superset of the
1122 and the flawed archive handling during
1126 operations are extensions to the
1133 Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego
1136 will exit with one of the following values:
1139 All files were processed successfully.
1146 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1147 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1148 group ID, or file mode when the
1150 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1152 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1153 In the case where pax 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.