1 .\" $OpenBSD: pax.1,v 1.54 2008/06/11 07:42:50 jmc 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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12 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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15 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
16 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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20 .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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23 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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35 .\" @(#)pax.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
37 .Dd $Mdocdate: June 11 2008 $
42 .Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
81 .Op Fl 0DdHijkLlnOPtuvXYZ
92 will read, write, and list the members of an archive file
93 and will copy directory hierarchies.
95 operation is independent of the specific archive format
96 and supports a wide variety of different archive formats.
97 A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
105 options specifies which of the following functional modes
108 .Em list , read , write ,
115 will write to standard output
116 a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
117 standard input, whose pathnames match the specified
120 The table of contents contains one filename per line
121 and is written using single line buffering.
125 extracts the members of the archive file read from the standard input,
126 with pathnames matching the specified
129 The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
130 When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
131 rooted at that directory is extracted.
132 Extracted files are created either at absolute paths (those that begin
133 with a / character) or relative to the current file hierarchy unless the
135 option is used to remove leading slashes or add a relative path prefix.
136 Files being extracted to absolute paths may overwrite
137 files outside of the current working directory,
138 so care should be taken when extracting untrusted archives.
139 The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
140 the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
146 writes an archive containing the
148 operands to standard output
149 using the specified archive format.
152 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
156 operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
157 at that directory will be included.
163 operands to the destination
167 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
171 operand is also a directory the entire file
172 hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
175 is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
176 subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
177 the original and the copied files (see the
184 must not be one of the
186 operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
191 under these conditions is unpredictable.
194 While processing a damaged archive during a
200 will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
201 to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
203 option for more details on error handling).
207 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
210 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
211 or it is not of type directory,
213 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
217 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
218 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
223 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
226 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
230 operand does not select at least one archive member,
234 operands in a diagnostic message to standard error
235 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
239 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
242 operand does not select at least one archive member,
246 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to standard error
247 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
249 The options are as follows:
254 character as a pathname terminator, instead of newline
256 This applies only to the pathnames read from standard input in
257 the write and copy modes,
258 and to the pathnames written to standard output in list mode.
259 This option is expected to be used in concert with the
271 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
272 If an archive format is not specified with a
274 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
275 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
276 format already used in the archive will cause
279 with a non-zero exit status.
280 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
281 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
284 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
285 to perform an append operation.
286 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
287 archive or have other unpredictable results.
288 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
289 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
290 usually support an append operation.
292 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
301 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
304 limits can be separated by
306 to indicate a product.
309 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
310 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
311 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
312 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
313 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
317 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
318 bytes per write to the archive file.
321 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
322 Archive block sizes larger than 32256 bytes violate the
324 standard and will not be portable to all systems.
331 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
336 to indicate a product.
337 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
338 of blocking it will support.
339 When blocking is not specified, the default
341 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
345 Match all file or archive members
347 those specified by the
353 This option is the same as the
355 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
356 file modification time.
357 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
358 (e.g., UID, GID, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
361 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
362 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
363 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
365 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
371 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
372 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
377 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
384 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
387 is a small positive number of retries.
390 Using this option with
392 should be used with extreme caution as
394 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
398 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
406 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
409 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
412 Select a file based on its
414 name, or when starting with a
419 can be used to escape the
423 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
425 Follow only command-line symbolic links while performing a physical file
428 Interactively rename files or archive members.
429 For each archive member matching a
431 operand or each file matching a
437 giving the name of the file, its file mode, and its modification time.
439 will then read a line from
441 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
442 If this line consists of a single period, the
443 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
444 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
446 will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
448 is encountered when reading a response or if
450 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
452 Use bzip2 to compress (decompress) the archive while writing (reading).
453 The bzip2 utility must be installed separately.
457 Do not overwrite existing files.
459 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
461 (The lowercase letter
468 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
471 Select the first archive member that matches each
474 No more than one archive member is matched for each
476 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
477 directory is also matched (unless
481 Force the archive to be one volume.
482 If a volume ends prematurely,
484 will not prompt for a new volume.
485 This option can be useful for
486 automated tasks where error recovery cannot be performed by a human.
488 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
489 which is specific to the archive format specified by
494 .Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value .
496 The following options are available for the old
501 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
503 .It Cm write_opt=nodir
504 When writing archives, omit the storage of directories.
507 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
508 This is the default mode.
510 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
513 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
514 discarded on extraction.
515 The string consists of the specification characters
519 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
522 options can be specified.
523 The meanings of the specification characters are as follows:
526 Do not preserve file access times.
527 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
529 .Dq Preserve everything ,
530 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
531 file access time, and file modification time.
532 This is intended to be used by
534 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
535 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
538 flag is the sum of the
544 Do not preserve file modification times.
545 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
547 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
551 This is intended to be used by a
553 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
555 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
556 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
559 In the preceding list,
561 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
562 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
564 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
565 part of the normal file creation action.
570 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
571 preserved for any reason,
579 bits of the file mode.
580 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
582 will write a diagnostic message to standard error.
583 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
584 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
585 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
586 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
590 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
592 Read an archive file from standard input
593 and extract the specified
596 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
597 member, these directories will be created as if
599 was called with the bitwise inclusive
602 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
605 as the mode argument.
606 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
607 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
609 will write a diagnostic message to standard error
610 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
612 Modify the archive member names according to the substitution expression
614 using the syntax of the
616 utility regular expressions.
620 arguments may be given to restrict the list of archive members to those
623 The format of these regular expressions is:
630 is a basic regular expression (see
634 can contain an ampersand
639 is a digit) back-references,
640 or subexpression matching.
643 string may also contain newline characters.
644 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter
651 expressions can be specified.
652 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
653 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
655 The optional trailing
657 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring,
658 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
660 The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
663 The optional trailing
665 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
666 standard error in the following format:
668 .D1 Em original-pathname No \*(Gt\*(Gt Em new-pathname
670 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
671 are not selected and will be skipped.
673 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
674 time falling within the specified time range.
675 The range has the format:
677 .Bd -filled -offset indent
678 .Oo Ar from_date Oc Oo ,
680 .Oo Cm c Oc Op Cm m Oc
684 The dates specified by
691 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
692 equal to or younger are selected.
695 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
696 equal to or older will be selected.
701 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
702 time will be selected.
710 mode, the optional trailing field
712 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
713 both) are used in the comparison.
714 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
717 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
718 the file was last written).
721 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
722 inode was last changed; e.g., a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
727 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
730 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
731 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
732 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
733 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
735 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
737 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
738 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
740 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
744 .Dl [[[[[cc]yy]mm]dd]HH]MM[.SS]
748 is the first two digits of the year (the century),
750 is the last two digits of the year,
753 is the month (from 01 to 12),
755 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
757 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
759 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
762 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
765 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
772 field may be added independently of the other fields.
773 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
775 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
776 of 12:34 PM today or later.
779 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
781 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
783 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
786 Select a file based on its
788 name, or when starting with a
793 can be used to escape the
797 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
799 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
800 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
803 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
804 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
807 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
808 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
811 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
812 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
813 the source hierarchy is newer.
817 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
822 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
823 the output has the format:
825 .Dl Em ls -l listing Li == Em link-name
827 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
829 .Dl Em ls -l listing Li =\*(Gt Em link-name
833 is the output format specified by the
835 utility when used with the
838 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
839 .Po Em read , write , No and Em copy
841 pathnames are written and flushed to standard error
842 without a trailing newline
843 as soon as processing begins on that file or
846 is not buffered and is written only after the file has been read or written.
848 Write files to the standard output
849 in the specified archive format.
852 operands are specified, standard input
853 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
857 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
858 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
861 field as described in
863 for more information about device IDs.
865 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
868 currently supports the following formats:
869 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
871 The old binary cpio format.
872 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
873 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
875 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
876 by this format), which may be truncated by this format, is detected by
880 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
883 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
884 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
885 by this format), which may be truncated by this format, is detected by
889 The System V release 4 cpio.
890 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
891 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
892 by this format), which may be truncated by this format, is detected by
896 The System V release 4 cpio with file CRC checksums.
897 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
898 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
899 by this format), which may be truncated by this format, is detected by
905 tar format as found in
907 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
908 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
912 .Em hard links , soft links ,
915 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
916 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
918 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
919 This option takes the form:
921 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
923 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
926 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
927 Filenames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length;
928 the total pathname must be 255 characters or less.
932 will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
933 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
934 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
935 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
936 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length, and the type of the
939 This option is the same as the
941 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
942 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
944 This option is the same as the
946 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
947 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
951 to compress (decompress) the archive while writing (reading).
957 ignores filenames or symbolic links that contain
966 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
984 When extracting files during a
986 operation, archive members are
988 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1001 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1006 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1009 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1011 When archiving files during a
1013 operation, or copying files during a
1015 operation, archive members are
1017 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1027 option only applies during a copy operation).
1032 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1039 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1042 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1044 When one or both of the
1048 options are specified along with the
1050 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1051 than the file to which it is compared.
1055 Path in which to store temporary files.
1058 Copy the contents of the current directory to the device
1061 .Dl $ pax -w -f /dev/rst0 \&.
1063 Give the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1066 .Dl $ pax -v -f filename
1068 This sequence of commands will copy the entire
1070 directory hierarchy to
1072 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1075 $ pax -rw . ../newdir
1078 Extract files from the archive
1082 are extracted relative to the current working directory;
1083 all other files are extracted to their unmodified path.
1085 .Dl $ pax -r -s ',^/usr/,,' -f a.pax
1087 This can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the
1088 current directory to
1091 .Dl $ pax -rw -i \&. dest_dir
1093 Extract all files from the archive
1099 and preserve all file permissions:
1101 .Dl "$ pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax"
1103 Update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1105 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1106 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1109 .Dl "$ pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup"
1112 will exit with one of the following values:
1113 .Bl -tag -width 2n -offset indent
1115 All files were processed successfully.
1122 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1123 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1124 group ID, or file mode when the
1126 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to standard error
1127 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1130 cannot create a link to a file,
1132 will not create a second copy of the file.
1134 If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1137 may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1138 Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1139 may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1142 If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1144 may have only partially created the archive, which may violate the specific
1145 archive format specification.
1150 detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1151 a diagnostic message is written to standard error
1154 completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
1159 "Archiving with Pax", Dru Lavigne, ONLamp.com BSD DevCenter,
1160 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/08/22/FreeBSD_Basics.html
1163 http://heirloom.sourceforge.net/man/pax.1.html
1167 utility is compliant with the
1172 .Op Fl 0BDEGHjLOPTUYZz ,
1178 and the flawed archive handling during
1183 are extensions to that specification.
1185 Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego.