1 .\" Copyright (c) 1992 Keith Muller.
2 .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
3 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
5 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
6 .\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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9 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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20 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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32 .\" @(#)pax.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
33 .\" $FreeBSD: src/bin/pax/pax.1,v 1.33 2004/07/03 02:03:44 tjr Exp $
40 .Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
108 .Op Fl b Ar blocksize
149 .Op Fl diklntuvDHLPXYZ
180 utility will read, write, and list the members of an archive file,
181 and will copy directory hierarchies.
182 These operations are independent of the specific archive format,
183 and support a wide variety of different archive formats.
184 A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
192 options specifies which of the following functional modes
195 .Em list , read , write ,
203 a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
205 whose pathnames match the specified
207 The table of contents contains one filename per line
208 and is written using single line buffering.
211 Extract the members of the archive file read from the
213 with pathnames matching the specified
215 The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
216 When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
217 rooted at that directory is extracted.
218 All extracted files are created relative to the current file hierarchy.
219 The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
220 the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
225 Write an archive containing the
229 using the specified archive format.
232 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
236 operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
237 at that directory will be included.
242 operands to the destination
246 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
251 operand is also a directory the entire file
252 hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
255 is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
256 subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
257 the original and the copied files (see the
264 must not be one of the
266 operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
271 under these conditions is unpredictable.
274 While processing a damaged archive during a
280 will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
281 to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
283 option for more details on error handling).
287 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
290 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
291 or it is not of type directory,
293 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
297 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
298 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
303 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
306 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
310 operand does not select at least one archive member,
314 operands in a diagnostic message to
316 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
320 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
323 operand does not select at least one archive member,
327 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
329 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
331 The following options are supported:
334 Read an archive file from
336 and extract the specified
338 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
339 member, these directories will be created as if
341 was called with the bitwise inclusive
344 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
347 as the mode argument.
348 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
349 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
351 will write a diagnostic message to
353 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
357 in the specified archive format.
360 operands are specified,
362 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
368 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
369 If an archive format is not specified with a
371 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
372 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
373 format already used in the archive will cause
376 with a non-zero exit status.
377 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
378 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
381 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
382 to perform an append operation.
383 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
384 archive or have other unpredictable results.
385 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
386 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
387 usually support an append operation.
388 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
392 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
393 bytes per write to the archive file.
396 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
397 Archives larger than 32256 bytes violate the
399 standard and will not be portable to all systems.
406 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
411 to indicate a product.
412 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
413 of blocking it will support.
414 When blocking is not specified, the default
416 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
420 Match all file or archive members
422 those specified by the
428 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
429 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
430 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
434 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
444 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
447 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
450 Interactively rename files or archive members.
451 For each archive member matching a
453 operand or each file matching a
459 giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
462 utility will then read a line from
464 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
465 If this line consists of a single period, the
466 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
467 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
470 utility will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
472 is encountered when reading a response or if
474 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
476 Do not overwrite existing files.
484 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
487 Select the first archive member that matches each
490 No more than one archive member is matched for each
492 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
493 directory is also matched (unless
497 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
498 which is specific to the archive format specified by
505 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
508 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
509 discarded on extraction.
510 The string consists of the specification characters
514 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
517 options can be specified.
518 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
521 Do not preserve file access times.
522 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
524 .Sq Preserve everything ,
525 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
526 file access time, and file modification time.
527 This is intended to be used by
529 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
530 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
533 flag is the sum of the
539 Do not preserve file modification times.
540 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
542 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
546 This intended to be used by a
548 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
550 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
551 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
554 In the preceding list,
556 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
557 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
559 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
560 part of the normal file creation action.
565 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
566 preserved for any reason,
574 bits of the file mode.
575 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
577 will write a diagnostic message to
579 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
580 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
581 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
582 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
586 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
588 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
592 operands according to the substitution expression
594 using the syntax of the
596 utility regular expressions.
597 The format of these regular expressions are:
602 is a basic regular expression and
604 can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
605 or subexpression matching.
608 string may also contain
611 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
614 expressions can be specified.
615 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
616 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
617 The optional trailing
619 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
620 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
622 The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
625 The optional trailing
627 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
629 in the following format:
630 .Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
631 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
632 are not selected and will be skipped.
634 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
636 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
639 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
640 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
643 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
644 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
647 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
648 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
651 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
652 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
653 the source hierarchy is newer.
657 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
662 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
663 the output has the format:
664 .Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
665 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
666 .Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
667 Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
669 utility when used with the
672 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
676 pathnames are written and flushed to
680 as soon as processing begins on that file or
684 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
686 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
690 utility currently supports the following formats:
691 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
693 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
696 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
697 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
698 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
702 The old binary cpio format.
703 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
704 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
706 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
707 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
711 The System V release 4 cpio.
712 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
713 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
714 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
718 The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
719 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
720 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
721 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
727 tar format as found in
729 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
730 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
734 .Em hard links , soft links ,
737 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
738 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
740 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
741 This option takes the form:
742 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
744 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
747 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
748 Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
753 utility will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
754 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
755 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
756 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
757 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length and the type of the file.
761 to compress (decompress) the archive while writing (reading).
765 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
774 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
777 limits can be separated by
779 to indicate a product.
782 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
783 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
784 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
785 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
787 This option is the same as the
789 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
790 file modification time.
791 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
792 (e.g.\& uid, gid, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
795 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
801 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
802 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
807 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
814 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
817 is a small positive number of retries.
820 Using this option with
822 should be used with extreme caution as
824 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
826 Select a file based on its
828 name, or when starting with a
831 A '\\' can be used to escape the
835 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
837 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
840 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
842 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
843 This is the default mode.
844 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
845 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
846 time falling within a specified time range of
850 (the dates are inclusive).
853 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
854 equal to or younger are selected.
857 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
858 equal to or older will be selected.
863 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
864 time will be selected.
872 mode, the optional trailing field
874 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
875 both) are used in the comparison.
876 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
879 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
880 the file was last written).
883 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
884 inode was last changed; e.g.\& a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
889 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
891 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
892 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
893 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
894 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
896 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
898 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
899 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
901 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
904 .Dl [yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]
907 is the last two digits of the year,
910 is the month (from 01 to 12),
912 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
914 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
917 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
920 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
923 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
925 .Dl Cm hh , dd , mm , yy .
928 field may be added independently of the other fields.
929 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
931 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
932 of 12:34 PM today or later.
935 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
937 Select a file based on its
939 name, or when starting with a
942 A '\\' can be used to escape the
946 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
948 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
949 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
952 field as described in
954 for more information about device ID's.
956 This option is the same as the
958 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
959 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
961 This option is the same as the
963 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
964 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
967 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
983 When extracting files during a
985 operation, archive members are
987 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1000 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1005 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1008 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1010 When archiving files during a
1012 operation, or copying files during a
1014 operation, archive members are
1016 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1026 option only applies during a copy operation).
1031 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1038 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1041 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1043 When one or both of the
1047 options are specified along with the
1049 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1050 than the file to which it is compared.
1053 .Dl "pax -w -f /dev/sa0 ."
1054 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1058 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1059 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1062 The following commands:
1065 .Dl pax -rw .\ /tmp/to
1066 will copy the entire
1068 directory hierarchy to
1072 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1075 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1079 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1080 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1085 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1086 will extract all files from the archive
1092 and will preserve all file permissions.
1095 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1096 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1098 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1099 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1104 utility is a superset of the
1125 and the flawed archive handling during
1129 operations are extensions to the
1142 at the University of California, San Diego
1146 utility will exit with one of the following values:
1149 All files were processed successfully.
1156 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1157 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1158 group ID, or file mode when the
1160 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1162 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1163 In the case where pax cannot create a link to a file,
1165 will not create a second copy of the file.
1167 If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1170 may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1171 Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1172 may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1175 If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1177 may have only partially created the archive which may violate the specific
1178 archive format specification.
1183 detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1184 a diagnostic message is written to
1188 completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
1192 utility does not recognize multibyte characters.