1 .\" $NetBSD: pax.1,v 1.54 2007/10/26 16:35:59 hira Exp $
3 .\" Copyright (c) 1992 Keith Muller.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
5 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
7 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
8 .\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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11 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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34 .\" @(#)pax.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
41 .Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
79 .Op Fl AcDdijknOuVvYZz
122 .Op Fl AdHijLMOPtuVvXz
124 .Op Fl b Ar blocksize
161 .Oo /[ Cm c ] [ Cm m ] Oc
170 .Op Fl ADdHijkLlMnOPtuVvXYZz
196 .Oo /[ Cm c ] [ Cm m ] Oc
207 will read, write, and list the members of an archive file,
208 and will copy directory hierarchies.
209 If the archive file is of the form:
210 .Ar [[user@]host:]file
211 then the archive will be processed using
215 operation is independent of the specific archive format,
216 and supports a wide variety of different archive formats.
217 A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
225 options specifies which of the following functional modes
228 .Em list , read , write ,
237 a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
239 whose pathnames match the specified
241 The table of contents contains one filename per line
242 and is written using single line buffering.
246 extracts the members of the archive file read from the
248 with pathnames matching the specified
250 The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
251 When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
252 rooted at that directory is extracted.
253 All extracted files are created relative to the current file hierarchy.
254 The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
255 the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
261 writes an archive containing the
265 using the specified archive format.
268 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
272 operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
273 at that directory will be included.
279 operands to the destination
283 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
288 operand is also a directory the entire file
289 hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
292 is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
293 subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
294 the original and the copied files (see the
301 must not be one of the
303 operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
308 under these conditions is unpredictable.
311 While processing a damaged archive during a
317 will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
318 to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
320 option for more details on error handling).
324 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
327 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
328 or it is not of type directory,
330 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
334 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
335 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
340 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
343 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
347 operand does not select at least one archive member,
351 operands in a diagnostic message to
353 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
357 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
360 operand does not select at least one archive member,
364 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
366 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
368 The following options are supported:
371 Read an archive file from
373 and extract the specified
375 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
376 member, these directories will be created as if
378 was called with the bitwise inclusive
381 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
384 as the mode argument.
385 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
386 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
388 will write a diagnostic message to
390 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
394 in the specified archive format.
397 operands are specified,
399 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
405 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
406 If an archive format is not specified with a
408 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
409 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
410 format already used in the archive will cause
413 with a non-zero exit status.
414 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
415 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
418 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
419 to perform an append operation.
420 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
421 archive or have other unpredictable results.
422 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
423 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
424 usually support an append operation.
425 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
429 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
430 bytes per write to the archive file.
433 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 32256 bytes.
440 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
445 to indicate a product.
446 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
447 of blocking it will support.
448 When blocking is not specified, the default
450 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
454 Match all file or archive members
456 those specified by the
462 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
463 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
464 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
468 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
478 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
481 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
484 Interactively rename files or archive members.
485 For each archive member matching a
487 operand or each file matching a
493 giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
495 will then read a line from
497 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
498 If this line consists of a single period, the
499 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
500 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
502 will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
504 is encountered when reading a response or if
506 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
510 for compression when reading or writing archive files.
512 Do not overwrite existing files.
521 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
524 Select the first archive member that matches each
527 No more than one archive member is matched for each
529 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
530 directory is also matched (unless
534 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
535 which is specific to the archive format specified by
542 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
545 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
546 discarded on extraction.
547 The string consists of the specification characters
552 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
555 options can be specified.
556 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
559 Do not preserve file access times.
560 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
562 .Sq Preserve everything ,
563 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
564 file access time, and file modification time.
565 This is intended to be used by
567 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
568 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
571 flag is the sum of the
577 .\" Do not preserve file flags.
578 .\" By default, file flags are preserved whenever possible.
580 Do not preserve file modification times.
581 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
583 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
587 This is intended to be used by a
589 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
591 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
592 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
595 In the preceding list,
597 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
598 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
600 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
601 part of the normal file creation action.
606 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
607 preserved for any reason,
615 bits of the file mode.
616 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
618 will write a diagnostic message to
620 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
621 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
622 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
623 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
627 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
629 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
633 operands according to the substitution expression
635 using the syntax of the
637 utility regular expressions.
638 The format of these regular expressions are:
643 is a basic regular expression and
645 can contain an ampersand (\*[Am]), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
646 or subexpression matching.
649 string may also contain
652 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
655 expressions can be specified.
656 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
657 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
658 The optional trailing
660 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
661 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
663 The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
666 The optional trailing
668 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
670 in the following format:
671 .Dl Ao "original pathname" Ac \*[Gt]\*[Gt] Ao "new pathname" Ac
672 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
673 are not selected and will be skipped.
675 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
677 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
679 if the user has the appropriate permissions required by
682 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
683 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
686 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
687 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
690 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
691 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
694 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
695 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
696 the source hierarchy is newer.
700 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
705 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
706 the output has the format:
707 .Dl Ao "ls -l listing" Ac == Ao "link name" Ac
710 is the output format specified by the
712 utility when used with the
716 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
720 pathnames are written and flushed to
724 as soon as processing begins on that file or
728 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
730 A final summary of archive operations is printed after they have been
733 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
736 currently supports the following formats:
737 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
739 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
742 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
743 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
744 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
748 The old binary cpio format.
749 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
750 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
752 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
753 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
760 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
761 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
762 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
768 cpio with file crc checksums.
769 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
770 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
771 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
777 tar format as found in
779 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
780 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
784 .Em hard links , soft links ,
787 will be archived (other file types are not supported).
788 For backward compatibility with even older tar formats, a
790 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
791 This option takes the form:
792 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
794 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
797 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
798 Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
802 will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
803 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
804 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
805 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
806 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length and the type of the file.
810 compression, when reading or writing archive files.
812 Do not strip leading `/'s from file names.
814 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
823 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
826 limits can be separated by
828 to indicate a product.
831 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
832 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
833 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
834 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
836 This option is the same as the
838 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
839 file modification time.
840 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
841 (e.g. uid, gid, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
844 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
850 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
851 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
856 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
863 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
866 is a small positive number of retries.
869 Using this option with
871 should be used with extreme caution as
873 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
875 Select a file based on its
877 name, or when starting with a
880 A '\\' can be used to escape the
884 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
886 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
889 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
895 operation, treat the list of files on
900 specification, and write or copy only those items in the specfile.
902 If the file exists in the underlying file system, its permissions and
903 modification time will be used unless specifically overridden by the specfile.
904 An error will be raised if the type of entry in the specfile conflicts
905 with that of an existing file.
906 A directory entry that is marked
908 will not be copied (even though its contents will be).
910 Otherwise, the entry will be
912 and it is necessary to specify at least the following parameters
924 (in the case of block or character devices), and
926 (in the case of symbolic links).
929 isn't provided, the current time will be used.
936 Except for lookups for the
941 use the user database text file
943 and group database text file
947 rather than using the results from the system's
951 (and related) library calls.
953 Force the archive to be one volume.
954 If a volume ends prematurely,
956 will not prompt for a new volume.
957 This option can be useful for
958 automated tasks where error recovery cannot be performed by a human.
960 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
961 This is the default mode.
962 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
963 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
964 time falling within a specified time range of
968 (the dates are inclusive).
971 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
972 equal to or younger are selected.
975 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
976 equal to or older will be selected.
981 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
982 time will be selected.
990 mode, the optional trailing field
992 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
993 both) are used in the comparison.
994 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
997 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
998 the file was last written).
1001 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
1002 inode was last changed; e.g. a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
1007 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
1009 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
1010 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
1011 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
1012 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
1014 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
1016 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
1017 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
1019 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
1022 .Dl [[[[[cc]yy]mm]dd]hh]mm[\&.ss]
1025 is the first two digits of the year (the century),
1027 is the last two digits of the year,
1030 is the month (from 01 to 12),
1032 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
1034 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
1037 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
1040 is the seconds (from 00 to 61).
1041 Only the minute field
1043 is required; the others will default to the current system values.
1046 field may be added independently of the other fields.
1047 If the century is not specified, it defaults to 1900 for
1048 years between 69 and 99, or 2000 for years between 0 and 68.
1049 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
1051 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
1052 of 12:34 PM today or later.
1055 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
1057 Select a file based on its
1059 name, or when starting with a
1062 A '\\' can be used to escape the
1066 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
1068 A final summary of archive operations is printed after they have been
1070 Some potentially long-running tape operations are noted.
1072 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
1073 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
1076 field as described in
1078 for more information about device ID's.
1080 This option is the same as the
1082 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
1083 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
1085 This option is the same as the
1087 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
1088 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
1090 Use the nul character instead of \en as the file separator when reading
1091 files from standard input.
1093 Do not interpret filenames that contain a `:' as remote files.
1097 ignores filenames that contain
1099 as a path component.
1106 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
1120 interact as follows.
1122 When extracting files during a
1124 operation, archive members are
1126 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1139 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1144 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1147 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1149 When archiving files during a
1151 operation, or copying files during a
1153 operation, archive members are
1155 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1165 option only applies during a copy operation).
1170 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1177 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1180 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1182 When one or both of the
1186 options are specified along with the
1188 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1189 than the file to which it is compared.
1192 will exit with one of the following values:
1195 All files were processed successfully.
1202 cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1203 find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1204 group ID, or file mode when the
1206 option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1208 and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1209 In the case where pax cannot create a link to a file,
1211 will not create a second copy of the file.
1213 If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1216 may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1217 Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1218 may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1221 If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1223 may have only partially created the archive which may violate the specific
1224 archive format specification.
1229 detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1230 a diagnostic message is written to
1234 completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
1237 .Dl pax -w -f /dev/rst0 \&.
1238 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1242 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1243 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1246 The following commands:
1249 .Dl pax -rw -pp .\ ../newdir
1250 will copy the entire
1252 directory hierarchy to
1254 preserving permissions and access times.
1256 When running as root, one may also wish to preserve file
1257 ownership when copying directory trees.
1258 This can be done with the following commands:
1260 .Dl pax -rw -pe .\ .../newdir
1261 which will copy the contents of
1265 preserving ownership, permissions and access times.
1268 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1271 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1275 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1276 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1281 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1282 will extract all files from the archive
1288 and will preserve all file permissions.
1291 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1292 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1294 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1295 files with the same name found in the source file tree
1305 utility is a superset of the
1328 and the flawed archive handling during
1332 operations are extensions to the
1336 Keith Muller at the University of California, San Diego.
1337 Luke Mewburn implemented