tar exit status

thorndike · #1 (**permalink**) 01-17-2002

I am using tar to backup files to tape.

When the tape is full, I'm prompted for a second tape and told to press enter when ready. When I press enter, tar stops and gives an exit status of 5. Does anyone know what this indicates?

Also, if everything fits on one tape and the backup completes, I am getting an exit status of 1 (should be 0 if completed sucessfully). Any idea why?

This is the command I use (executed from a unix script) :

tar cvf /dev/rmt/1m `cat filelist`

(the filelist just contains \ so that everying from root down is backed up).

kapilv · #2 (**permalink**) 01-22-2002

If you are using SUN OS then you can try using ufsdump instead of tar for multi volume backups.

Neo · #3 (**permalink**) 01-22-2002

You can create multivolume backups with tar. From the man page:

Quote:

-M, --multi-volume
create/list/extract multi-volume archive

TAR is quite powerful...... here is an example of the range of options from the man page:

Quote:

NAME
tar - The GNU version of the tar archiving utility

SYNOPSIS
tar [ - ] A --catenate --concatenate | c --create | d
--diff --compare | r --append | t --list | u --update | x
-extract --get [ --atime-preserve ] [ -b, --block-size N ]
[ -B, --read-full-blocks ] [ -C, --directory DIR ] [
--checkpoint ] [ -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F ] [ --force-
local ] [ -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F ] [
-G, --incremental ] [ -g, --listed-incremental F ] [ -h,
--dereference ] [ -i, --ignore-zeros ] [ --ignore-failed-
read ] [ -k, --keep-old-files ] [ -K, --starting-file F ]
[ -l, --one-file-system ] [ -L, --tape-length N ] [ -m,
--modification-time ] [ -M, --multi-volume ] [ -N,
--after-date DATE, --newer DATE ] [ -o, --old-archive,
--portability ] [ -O, --to-stdout ] [ -p, --same-permis-
sions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --absolute-paths ] [
--preserve ] [ -R, --record-number ] [ --remove-files
] [ -s, --same-order, --preserve-order ] [ --same-owner ]
[ -S, --sparse ] [ -T, --files-from F ] [ --null ] [
--totals ] [ -v, --verbose ] [ -V, --label NAME ] [
--version ] [ -w, --interactive, --confirmation ] [ -W,
--verify ] [ --exclude FILE ] [ -X, --exclude-from FILE
] [ -y, --bzip2, --bunzip2 ] [ -Z, --compress, --uncom-
press ] [ -z, --gzip, --ungzip ] [ --use-compress-
program PROG ] [ --block-compress ] [ -[0-7][lmh] ]

filename1 [ filename2, ... filenameN ]

directory1 [ directory2, ...directoryN ]

Tons of options !!!!

kapilv · #4 (**permalink**) 01-22-2002

MultiVolume backups can be done with tar but ufsdump can be thought of as an another option.

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