On Tue, 31 Jul 2001, Willi Dyck wrote: > I would like to know if tar handels the device files right!
It looks like it. I am making a root-raid system. I have created my raid arrays, formatted and mounted them under /mnt/raid in the same hierarchy as they will be mounted once the system is complete. Then: earth:~# cd / earth:/# tar cpf - dev | tar xvpf - -C /mnt/raid earth:/# ls -l /dev/md[0-3] brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 0 Jul 29 12:45 /dev/md0 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 1 Jul 29 12:45 /dev/md1 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 2 Jul 29 12:45 /dev/md2 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 3 Jul 29 12:45 /dev/md3 earth:/# ls -l /mnt/raid/dev/md[0-3] brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 0 Jul 29 12:45 /mnt/raid/dev/md0 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 1 Jul 29 12:45 /mnt/raid/dev/md1 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 2 Jul 29 12:45 /mnt/raid/dev/md2 brw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 3 Jul 29 12:45 /mnt/raid/dev/md3 It looks OK to me (thanks for getting me to check; I didn't think about the device files, I was more worried about permissions and owners). I proceed similarly for all top-level directories in /, changing only the source dir. name for each command: earth:/# tar cpf - bin | tar xvpf - -C /mnt/raid earth:/# tar cpf - boot | tar xvpf - -C /mnt/raid etc., except for /proc and /mnt, for obvious reasons: earth:/# mkdir /mnt/raid/proc earth:/# mkdir /mnt/raid/mnt This is also the reason why this won't work: earth:/# cd / earth:/# tar cpf - . | tar xvpf - -C /mnt/raid You do need the separate commands for each dir. Since the target filesystems are mounted, everything ends up in the right place without worrying about only tarring in the source filesystem, changing working dirs. etc. I am very lazy, I can be very absent-minded, and my typing is awful... :) so this is what I do to make my life easy. It "seems to work"(TM); i was just worried that I was overlooking something (cf. "No; it can't be that easy; this is UNIX, after all... :) ) Best regards, George Karaolides 8, Costakis Pantelides St., tel: +35 79 68 08 86 Strovolos, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Nicosia CY 2057, web: www.karaolides.com Republic of Cyprus
