- a tar post-processor

[ option... ][ infile [ outfile ]]

-Help

-VERSion

The program is used to manipulate the file headers within tar(1) archive files.

This is useful when preparing sources for Internet archive sites, and you don't want to included details of your development environment in the tar(1) file.

One of the most useful features is the ability to add a prefix to the names of the files within the tar(1) file. An example is adding the prefix ".", for when you have a tar(1) file with absolute paths in it, and need to extract the file with relative paths.

The GNU tar format headers are understood, including extended names.

If no input file is named, or the special name "-" is used, input will be read from the standard input. Similarly, if no output file is named, or the special name "-" is used, output will be written to the standard output.

The following options are understood:

-Block_Size number

Thsi option many be used to specify the block size, as a multiple of 512 bytes. The default is CW]-bs=20 resulting in a 10KB block size.

-Clean_Meta

This option may be used to ensure that file names do not contain shell meta characters. If any are found, they are replaced by a hyphen (-) character. Warning: duplicate file names may result.

-Clean_Print

This option may be used to ensure that file names only contain printable ascii characters. If any non-printable characters are found, they are replaced by a hyphen (-) character. Warning: duplicate file names may result.

-Clean_Space

This option may be used to ensure that file names contain no white space characters. If any are found, they are replaced by a hyphen (-) character. Warning: duplicate file names may result.

-Clean

This option is a terse way of specifying all of the above 3 options.

-DownCase

This option may be used to force file names to be all lower case. Warning: duplicate file names may result.

-Group arg

This option may be used to set both the group name and group number fields in the header of every file in the archive file. The argument may be either a string or a number. It is an error if a corresponding entry cannot be found in the /etc/group file.

-Group_NAme string

This option is used to set the group name field in the header of every file in the archive file. The string may be any arbitrary string, it is not restricted to a known group.

-Group_NAme number

This option is used to set the group name field in the header of every file in the archive file. The number is mapped to a group name through the /etc/group file. It is an error if a corresponding group cannot be found.

-Group_NUmber string

This option is used to set the group number field in the header of every file in the archive file. The string is mapped to a group number through the /etc/group file. It is an error if a corresponding group cannot be found.

-Group_NUmber number

This option is used to set the group number field in the header of every file in the archive file. The number may be any arbitrary number, it is not restricted to a known group.

-Help

This option may be used to obtain more information about how to use the program.

-Input_ForMaT name

This option may be used to specify the input format to be used. The input names are

tar

This format understands all of the various tar(1) formats. This is the default.

list

The input is a text file which contains one file name per line. The named files are read as if they were the input. It is common for find(1) to be used to form the list of file names.

Any other format name will produce an error.

-List

Give a terse listing of the file headers on the standard error as they are written to the output.

-No_Directories

This option may be used to supress directories from the output. This can be useful when the archive has been created with directories in useless modes.

-Mode_Clear bits

This option may be used to set the mode of each file in the archive file. The bits specified are cleared in the mode. You should use an octal number with a leading zero as the argument; if you omit the leading zero it will be interpreted as decimal. The -Mode_Set option is applied first, the -Mode_Clear option is applied specond; if neither is specified the mode of each file is unaltered.

-Mode_Set bits

This option may be used to set the mode of each file in the archive file. The bits specified are set in the mode. You should use an octal number with a leading zero as the argument; if you omit the leading zero it will be interpreted as decimal.

-Now

Set the last-time-modified field of the headers to the current time, all files will be giben the same time.

-Old_Type

By default, corrects the old normal file type into the modern normal file type. This option requests that old normal file type indicators remain unaltered.

-Output_ForMaT name

This option may be used to specify the output format to be used. The output names are

ustar

The format that GNU tar uses. This is the default.

tar-bsd

The format that BSD tar(1) uses.

cpio

The new cpio(1) ASCII format.

cpio-old-ascii

The old cpio(1) ASCII format.

v7

The ancient UNIX V7 tar(1) format.

Any other format name will produce an error.

-Prefix string

This option is used to add a prefix directory name to the name of every file in the archive file.

-PROgress

This option is used to obtain a progress indicator. Only works in combination with the --ifmt=list option.

-Remove_Prefix number

This option is used to remove a number of leading directories from the name of every file in the archive file, if present. The prefixes will be removed before any prefix specified by the -Prefix option is prepended.

-Remove_Prefix string

This option is used to remove a prefix directory name from the name of every file in the archive file, if present. This option may be given more than once, and as many of the prefixes as appear will be removed. The prefixes will be removed before any prefix specified by the -Prefix option is prepended.

This option is potentially ambiguous with the preceeding option, if you wish to remove a leading prefix which looks like a number. If this is the case, add a slash ("/") to the end of the prefix to stop it looking like a number.

-UpCase

This option may be used to force file names to be all upper case. Warning: duplicate file names may result.

-User arg

This option may be used to set both the user name and user number fields in the header of every file in the archive file. The argument may be either a string or a number. It is an error if a corresponding entry cannot be found in the /etc/passwd file.

-User_NAme string

This option is used to set the user name field in the header of every file in the archive file. The string may be any arbitrary string, it is not restricted to a known user.

-User_NAme number

This option is used to set the user name field in the header of every file in the archive file. The number is mapped to a user name through the /etc/passwd file. It is an error if a corresponding user cannot be found.

-User_NUmber string

This option is used to set the user number field in the header of every file in the archive file. The string is mapped to a user number through the /etc/passwd file. It is an error if a corresponding user cannot be found.

-User_NUmber number

This option is used to set the user number field in the header of every file in the archive file. The number may be any arbitrary number, it is not restricted to a known user.

-VERSion

Print the version of the program being executed.

All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are optional. You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

For example: the arguments "-help, "-HELP" and "-h" are all interpreted to mean the -Help option. The argument "-hlp" will not be understood, because consecutive optional characters were not supplied.

Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on the command line, after the function selectors.

The GNU long option names are understood. Since all option names for are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'. The "--option=value" convention is also understood.

The command will exit with a status of 1 on any error. The command will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.

version

Copyright Peter Miller;

All rights reserved.

The program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the ' -VERSion Warranty' command. This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details use the ' -VERSion Redistribution' command.

tab(;); l r l. Peter Miller;EMail:;millerp@canb.auug.org.au CW/\/\*;WWW:;http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/