.Dd October 8, 2015
.Dt TAR 1
.Os sbase
.Sh NAME
.Nm tar
.Nd create, list or extract a tape archive
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Cm x | Cm t | Fl x | Fl t
.Op Fl C Ar dir
.Op Fl J | Fl Z | Fl a | Fl j | Fl z
.Op Fl m
.Op Fl p
.Op Fl f Ar file
.Op Ar file ...
.Nm
.Cm c | Fl c Op Fl C Ar dir
.Op Fl J | Fl Z | Fl a | Fl j | Fl z
.Op Fl h
.Ar path ...
.Op Fl f Ar file
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is the standard file archiver.
.Sh OPTIONS
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl c Ar path ...
Create archive from
.Ar path .
.It Fl C Ar dir
Change directory to
.Ar dir
before beginning.
.It Fl f Ar file
Set
.Ar file
as input | output archive instead of stdin | stdout.
If '-', stdin | stdout is used.
.It Fl m
Do not preserve modification time.
.It Fl t
List all files in the archive.
.It Fl x
Extract archive.
.It Fl h
Always dereference symbolic links while recursively traversing directories.
.It Fl J | Fl Z | Fl a | Fl j | Fl z
Use xz | compress | lzma | bzip2 | gzip compression or decompression.
These utilities must be installed separately.
Using these flags is discouraged in favour of the flexibility
and clarity of pipes:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ bzip2 -cd archive.tar.bz2 | tar -x
$ gzip -cd archive.tar.gz | tar -x
.Ed
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ tar -c file ... | bzip2 > archive.tar.bz2
$ tar -c file ... | gzip2 > archive.tar.gz
.Ed
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ar 1 ,
.Xr bzip2 1 ,
.Xr gzip 1
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
utility is compliant with the UStar (Uniform Standard Tape ARchive)
format defined in the
.St -p1003.1-88
specification.
For long file paths (>99 bytes), the UStar, 'L' and 'x' header formats are
supported for reading (to a maximum size of PATH_MAX or 255 bytes, depending on
format), and the 'L' format is supported for writing (with unlimited path
size).
Link targets are limited to the UStar maximum of 100 bytes.