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From: pmh@islay.sub.org (Patrick M. Hausen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Making a multi-volume backup to /dev/fd0 using tar
Date: 27 May 1996 14:14:54 +0200
Organization: Patrick M. Hausen - private site
Lines: 69
Message-ID: <pmh.833198743@ardbeg.islay.sub.org>
References: <DrpIsx.y7@ecf.toronto.edu> <4nq2e0$a6n@sidhe.hsc.fr> <4nsma9$5t1@fang.cs.sunyit.edu> <ufohney4am.fsf@cumulus.sky.bln.sub.org> <4o9cf8$1iq@uriah.heep.sax.de>
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j@uriah.heep.sax.de (J Wunsch) writes:
>martini@heaven7.snafu.de (Martin Ibert) wrote:
>> : I beleive doing this (tar -cvfM /dev/rfd0 *) will create a big
>> : tar file named "M".
>>
>> Probably. The hyphen is superfluous(sp?), "tar cvfM /deV/rfd0 ."
>> should work fine.
>Better keep the hyphen, and at least, reverse the f and M options,
>since /dev/rfd0 is an argument to the f option.
>> : tar -M -L 1440 -cvf /dev/fd0 * (or some compfortable combonation)
>>
>> Nah. That looks _ugly_! What's wrong with the calling syntax tar
>> always had?
>Because that's how it is supposed to. (See Posix, the section about
>option specification.) Options have to be preceded by a dash, and you
>should only collapse options without arguments. Option arguments
>should be separated from their option letter by a white space. So, it
>should read as
> tar -cvM -L 1440 -f /dev/rfd0 <files to backup>
>The fact that GNU tar supports historical (inconsistent) practice
>doesn't mean you should publically recommend it.
Pardon?
I thought, tar's syntax was
tar <options> <arguments to the options> <file> ...
- at least, that's what I've been teaching in Unix beginner classes for
years ;-)
So it should not matter, if you type
tar cvfb /dev/bla 9k ...
tar vbfc 9k /dev/bla ...
tar cfbv /dev/bla 9k ...
because there are only two options, that _take_ arguments. The order of
arguments must match the order of options and that's that.
I've fallen over that cvfM thing in GNU-tar lately and, boy, did I swear ;-)
The same, IMHO, holds for find. Who invented that brain damaged -x and -d ?
Find syntax is
find <path-list> <predicate-list>
- no options here. What's wrong with
find -depth -mount -print / /usr /var /home | cpio ... ?
My $.02, sometimes I just don't see the progress ;-)
Paddy
--
Patrick M. Hausen Gerwigstr. 11 76131 Karlsruhe pmh@islay.sub.org
"For all the good you do you get paid in heaven
-- for all the bad you pay down here" (Kieran Halpin)