PACKAGE.md 1.7 KB
GNU tar
GNU tar is an archiving utility that allows you to create, extract, and manipulate tar archives. It is a fundamental tool for Unix-like systems, widely used for distributing software, backing up data, and collecting files together.
Features
- Multiple Archive Formats: Supports various archive formats including GNU tar, ustar, pax, and v7
- Compression Support: Can work with gzip, bzip2, xz, lzip, and lzop compressed archives
- Extended Attributes: Preserves file ownership, permissions, timestamps, and extended attributes
- Incremental Backups: Supports incremental and differential backups
- Remote Tape Support: Can work with remote tape drives through the rmt protocol
- Sparse File Handling: Efficiently handles sparse files
- Multi-volume Archives: Can create and extract multi-volume archives
Common Use Cases
- Software Distribution: Packaging source code and binaries for distribution
- System Backups: Creating full and incremental system backups
- Data Archiving: Collecting related files for storage or transfer
- File Transfer: Efficiently transferring directory structures
- Container Images: Creating layers for container systems
Key Capabilities
- Create archives with various compression methods
- Extract files from archives while preserving metadata
- List contents of archives without extraction
- Update existing archives by adding or removing files
- Convert between different archive formats
- Verify archive integrity
GNU tar is part of the GNU core utilities and is essential for system administration and software development workflows. It provides reliable, feature-rich archiving capabilities that make it indispensable for managing files and directories on Unix-like systems.