At 01:32 PM 1/11/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>I have to install all these tar.gz files and my RedHat book isn't
>helping much.
>
>I try tar -xvh and such and I get a squawk these aren't zipped or tarred
>or oh hell...
>
>I remember you showed me a universal "unzip untar and go ahead and
>install" command I used all the time and forgot, (it was written on the
>cover of a Linux for Dummies book I sold!). What was it?
not quite go ahead and install, but yes, unzip and untar:
tar -xvfz filename.tar.gz (or filename.tgz)
-xvfz means extract verbosely filename compressed
interestingly, the tar --help command DOESN'T list most of those:
GNU `tar' saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and
can restore individual files from the archive.
Usage: tar [OPTION]... [FILE]...
If a long option shows an argument as mandatory, then it is mandatory
for the equivalent short option also. Similarly for optional arguments.
Main operation mode:
-t, --list list the contents of an archive
-x, --extract, --get extract files from an archive
-c, --create create a new archive
-d, --diff, --compare find differences between archive and file system
-r, --append append files to the end of an archive
-u, --update only append files newer than copy in archive
-A, --catenate append tar files to an archive
--concatenate same as -A
--delete delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)
Operation modifiers:
-W, --verify attempt to verify the archive after writing it
--remove-files remove files after adding them to the archive
-k, --keep-old-files don't overwrite existing files when extracting
-U, --unlink-first remove each file prior to extracting over it
--recursive-unlink empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory
-S, --sparse handle sparse files efficiently
-O, --to-stdout extract files to standard output
-G, --incremental handle old GNU-format incremental backup
-g, --listed-incremental handle new GNU-format incremental backup
--ignore-failed-read do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files
Handling of file attributes:
--owner=NAME force NAME as owner for added files
--group=NAME force NAME as group for added files
--mode=CHANGES force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files
--atime-preserve don't change access times on dumped files
-m, --modification-time don't extract file modified time
--same-owner try extracting files with the same ownership
--numeric-owner always use numbers for user/group names
-p, --same-permissions extract all protection information
--preserve-permissions same as -p
-s, --same-order sort names to extract to match archive
--preserve-order same as -s
--preserve same as both -p and -s
Device selection and switching:
-f, --file=ARCHIVE use archive file or device ARCHIVE
