2 .\" Copyright (c) 1992 Keith Muller.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
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6 .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7 .\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
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33 .\" @(#)pax.1 8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
41 .Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
109 .Op Fl b Ar blocksize
150 .Op Fl diklntuvDHLOPXYZ
181 utility will read, write, and list the members of an archive file,
182 and will copy directory hierarchies.
183 These operations are independent of the specific archive format,
184 and support a wide variety of different archive formats.
185 A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
193 options specifies which of the following functional modes
196 .Em list , read , write ,
204 a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
206 whose pathnames match the specified
208 The table of contents contains one filename per line
209 and is written using single line buffering.
212 Extract the members of the archive file read from the
214 with pathnames matching the specified
216 The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
217 When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
218 rooted at that directory is extracted.
219 All extracted files are created relative to the current file hierarchy.
220 The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
221 the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
226 Write an archive containing the
230 using the specified archive format.
233 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
237 operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
238 at that directory will be included.
243 operands to the destination
247 operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
252 operand is also a directory the entire file
253 hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
256 is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
257 subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
258 the original and the copied files (see the
265 must not be one of the
267 operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
272 under these conditions is unpredictable.
275 While processing a damaged archive during a
281 will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
282 to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
284 option for more details on error handling).
288 operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
291 operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
292 or it is not of type directory,
294 will exit with a non-zero exit status.
298 operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
299 Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
304 operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
307 matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
311 operand does not select at least one archive member,
315 operands in a diagnostic message to
317 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
321 operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
324 operand does not select at least one archive member,
328 operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
330 and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
332 The following options are supported:
335 Read an archive file from
337 and extract the specified
339 If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
340 member, these directories will be created as if
342 was called with the bitwise inclusive
345 .Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
348 as the mode argument.
349 When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
350 files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
352 will write a diagnostic message to
354 and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
358 in the specified archive format.
361 operands are specified,
363 is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
369 to the end of an archive that was previously written.
370 If an archive format is not specified with a
372 option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
373 Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
374 format already used in the archive will cause
377 with a non-zero exit status.
378 The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
379 will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
382 Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
383 to perform an append operation.
384 Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
385 archive or have other unpredictable results.
386 Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
387 An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
388 usually support an append operation.
389 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
393 block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
394 bytes per write to the archive file.
397 must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
400 larger than 32256 bytes violates the
402 standard and will not be portable to all systems.
409 to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
414 to indicate a product.
415 A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
416 of blocking it will support.
417 When blocking is not specified, the default
419 is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
423 Match all file or archive members
425 those specified by the
431 Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
432 type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
433 member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
437 as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
447 A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
450 will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
453 Interactively rename files or archive members.
454 For each archive member matching a
456 operand or each file matching a
462 giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
465 utility will then read a line from
467 If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
468 If this line consists of a single period, the
469 file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
470 Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
473 utility will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
475 is encountered when reading a response or if
477 cannot be opened for reading and writing.
479 Do not overwrite existing files.
487 hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
490 Select the first archive member that matches each
493 No more than one archive member is matched for each
495 When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
496 directory is also matched (unless
500 Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
501 which is specific to the archive format specified by
508 Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
511 option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
512 discarded on extraction.
513 The string consists of the specification characters
517 Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
520 options can be specified.
521 The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
524 Do not preserve file access times.
525 By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
527 .Sq Preserve everything ,
528 the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
529 file access time, and file modification time.
530 This is intended to be used by
532 someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
533 aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
536 flag is the sum of the
542 Do not preserve file modification times.
543 By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
545 Preserve the user ID and group ID.
549 This intended to be used by a
551 with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
553 The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
554 disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
557 In the preceding list,
559 indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
560 extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
562 Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
563 part of the normal file creation action.
568 specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
569 preserved for any reason,
577 bits of the file mode.
578 If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
580 will write a diagnostic message to
582 Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
583 but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
584 If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
585 duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
589 is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
593 are not understood by
601 Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
605 operands according to the substitution expression
607 using the syntax of the
609 utility regular expressions.
610 The format of these regular expressions are:
615 is a basic regular expression and
617 can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
618 or subexpression matching.
621 string may also contain
624 Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
627 expressions can be specified.
628 The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
629 command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
630 The optional trailing
632 continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
633 which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
635 The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
638 The optional trailing
640 will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
642 in the following format:
643 .Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
644 File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
645 are not selected and will be skipped.
647 Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
649 to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
652 Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
653 than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
656 an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
657 extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
660 a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
661 written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
664 the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
665 hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
666 the source hierarchy is newer.
670 operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
675 For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
676 the output has the format:
677 .Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
678 For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
679 .Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
680 Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
682 utility when used with the
685 Otherwise for all the other operational modes
689 pathnames are written and flushed to
693 as soon as processing begins on that file or
697 is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
699 Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
703 utility currently supports the following formats:
704 .Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
706 The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
709 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
710 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
711 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
715 The old binary cpio format.
716 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
717 This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
719 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
720 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
724 The System V release 4 cpio.
725 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
726 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
727 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
731 The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
732 The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
733 Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
734 by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
740 tar format as found in
742 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
743 Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
747 .Em hard links , soft links ,
750 will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
751 For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
753 option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
754 This option takes the form:
755 .Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
757 The extended tar interchange format specified in the
760 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
761 Pathnames stored by this format must be 255 characters or less in length.
762 The directory part may be at most 155 characters and each path component
763 must be less than 100 characters.
768 utility will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
769 as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
770 The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
771 Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
772 file pathname length, file size, link pathname length and the type of the file.
776 to compress (decompress) the archive while writing (reading).
780 Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
789 to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
792 limits can be separated by
794 to indicate a product.
796 Note that the specified size is for the uncompressed pax image itself.
799 option is also used, the resulting file may contain fewer
801 according to the compressibility of the archive contents.
804 if compressed volumes of predictable size are required.
807 Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
808 an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
809 (such as a regular file or a tape drive).
810 The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
812 This option is the same as the
814 option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
815 file modification time.
816 The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
817 (e.g., uid, gid, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
820 Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
826 will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
827 continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
832 to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
839 to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
842 is a small positive number of retries.
845 Using this option with
847 should be used with extreme caution as
849 may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
851 Select a file based on its
853 name, or when starting with a
856 A '\\' can be used to escape the
860 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
862 Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
865 Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
867 Force the archive to be one volume.
868 If a volume ends prematurely,
870 will not prompt for a new volume.
871 This option can be useful for
872 automated tasks where error recovery cannot be performed by a human.
874 Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
875 This is the default mode.
876 .It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
877 Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
878 time falling within a specified time range of
882 (the dates are inclusive).
885 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
886 equal to or younger are selected.
889 is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
890 equal to or older will be selected.
895 only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
896 time will be selected.
904 mode, the optional trailing field
906 can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
907 both) are used in the comparison.
908 If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
911 specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
912 the file was last written).
915 specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
916 inode was last changed; e.g., a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
921 are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
923 The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
924 attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
925 created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
926 happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
928 Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
930 is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
931 changed during a specified time range will be archived).
933 A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
936 .Dl [yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]
939 is the last two digits of the year,
942 is the month (from 01 to 12),
944 is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
946 is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
949 is the minute (from 00 to 59),
952 is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
955 is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
957 .Dl Cm hh , dd , mm , yy .
960 field may be added independently of the other fields.
961 Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
963 would select all files with a modification or inode change time
964 of 12:34 PM today or later.
967 time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
969 Select a file based on its
971 name, or when starting with a
974 A '\\' can be used to escape the
978 options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
980 When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
981 do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
984 field as described in
986 for more information about device ID's.
988 This option is the same as the
990 option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
991 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
993 This option is the same as the
995 option, except that the modification time is checked using the
996 pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
999 The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
1013 interact as follows.
1015 When extracting files during a
1017 operation, archive members are
1019 based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1032 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1037 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1040 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1042 When archiving files during a
1044 operation, or copying files during a
1046 operation, archive members are
1048 based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1058 option only applies during a copy operation).
1063 options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1070 options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1073 option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1075 When one or both of the
1079 options are specified along with the
1081 option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1082 than the file to which it is compared.
1086 utility will exit with one of the following values:
1089 All files were processed successfully.
1095 .Dl "pax -w -f /dev/sa0 ."
1096 copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1100 .Dl pax -v -f filename
1101 gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1104 The following commands:
1107 .Dl pax -rw .\ /tmp/to
1108 will copy the entire
1110 directory hierarchy to
1114 .Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1117 with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1121 .Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1122 can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1127 .Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1128 will extract all files from the archive
1134 and will preserve all file permissions.
1137 .Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1138 will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1140 which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1141 files with the same name found in the source file tree
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.
1185 utility is a superset of the
1207 and the flawed archive handling during
1211 operations are extensions to the
1221 at the University of California, San Diego
1225 utility does not recognize multibyte characters.
1229 are not preserved by
1233 has a list of utilities that are unaware of flags.