Fabulous! I don't have bsdtar installed yet -- but will do that and then certainly try it out. Thank you, --Alice
On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 10:31 AM Tim Kientzle <t...@kientzle.com> wrote: > Checking the sources, it looks like bsdtar can read this using a command > such as: > > $ bsdtar xf archive.cpio —option=cpio:pwb > > bsdtar automatically recognizes and supports most modern cpio formats; the > `cpio:pwb` option prompts it to use PWB file modes when extracting. > > Tim > > > On Dec 16, 2022, at 9:25 AM, Alice Lecinski <al...@ucar.edu> wrote: > > Thanks Tim. It'll be a fun afternoon. :-) > Thanks for your help, > --Alice > > On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 10:21 AM Tim Kientzle <t...@kientzle.com> wrote: > >> This appears to be a CPIO archive stored in the original cpio format >> introduced as part of Programmer’s Work Bench (PWB), a variant of 6th >> Edition UNIX. >> >> The PWB format differed from that used in 7th Edition Unix in how it >> represented file types. >> >> The first file in this archive, for example, is stored with a file type >> of octal 110644. In the PWB format, this indicated a regular file with >> IALLOC and ILARG flags set (neither of which is relevant for cpio >> purposes). In later 7th Edition, this is nonsense (a “regular file” that >> is also a “named pipe”), which explains the errors you are seeing. >> >> In short, you’ll need to find or write a program that can extract the PWB >> format. I’m not sure if GNU cpio can do this — it probably assumes “bin” >> format is the 7th Edition Format. I don’t recall if bsdcpio can extract >> this or not — I’d have to check the sources. >> >> Fortunately, cpio format is very easy to read. It has a fixed-layout >> header for each entry, followed by the filename and file contents. So if >> you know how to read binary data from one file and write it to another, you >> can probably cobble up something workable in an afternoon. The header >> details can be found online: https://man.archlinux.org/man/cpio.5.en >> >> Tim >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Dec 15, 2022, at 10:16 AM, Alice Lecinski <al...@ucar.edu> wrote: >> >> Thank you so very much for your response. >> >> Please find attached the results of: >> >> od -xv --address-radix=d FILE_001 > V00063_hexdump.txt >> >> >> Thank you, >> Alice >> >> >> On Wed, Dec 14, 2022 at 7:10 PM Tim Kientzle <t...@kientzle.com> wrote: >> >>> Can you provide a hex dump of the first 128 or so bytes of the archive? >>> >>> Tim >>> >>> >>> On Dec 14, 2022, at 12:40 PM, Alice Lecinski <al...@ucar.edu> wrote: >>> >>> I have a very old cpio archive written in approximately 1990. >>> It was most likely written on a VAX VMS (~linux) system. >>> This is historical data and fairly important... >>> >>> When I attempt to get the files using: >>> >>> cpio -iv --no-absolute-filenames --force-local --format='bin' < FILE_001 >>> >>> >>> I get the following output: >>> >>> cpio: ecl9w2: unknown file type >>> ecl9w2 >>> cpio: g: unknown file type >>> g >>> cpio: ssss: unknown file type >>> ssss >>> cpio: t: unknown file type >>> t >>> wwww >>> 5480 blocks >>> >>> >>> When I then do an 'ls', the 'wwww' file has been created. But none of >>> the other files: >>> >>> 'ecl9w2', 'g', 't' >>> >>> exist. >>> The 'wwww' file is ascii and readable. I know the 'ecl9w2' file is >>> binary. >>> >>> Any suggestions? >>> Thank you, >>> Alice >>> >>> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> >>> Alice Lecinski >>> Associate Scientist IV >>> High Altitude Observatory www2.hao.ucar.edu >>> >>> HAO is a division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, >>> which is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric >>> Research under sponsorship of the National Science Foundation. >>> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> >>> >>> >>> <V00063_hexdump.txt> >> >> >> >
