Re: Path (was: 20090723KP -- Copying KMail)

On Sunday 26 July 2009 04:13, Kevin Krammer wrote:
> On Sunday, 2009-07-26, Bruce MacArthur wrote:
> > If I understand everything correctly, I can boot to Kubuntu Jaunty
> > and, in Konsole, change directories
> > to
> > /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/KMail/mail/.KMail-Import.direct
> >ory.
>
> At least one level to deep, actually I wouldn't even step into
> "mail", just cd to /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/KMail
>
> > Here I can "tar  -cvjf  /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2
> > suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail/.KMail-Import/directo
> >ry"
> >
> > What I intend to do by that command is to put the tarball from my
> > opensuse partition in my Jaunty home folder (/home/bu4lu3si1)
>
> As Werner already wrote, the second path is not what you want to
> have. Basically you can use any path for the archive file, e.g.
> /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2, but the path used to specifiy the
> directory or files to archive will also end up in the archive file
> and be restored when extracting.
>
> So if you do
>
> cd  /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/KMail
> tar -cvjf  /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2 mail/
>
> You will get an archive file in  /home/bu4lu3si1/ which contains one
> directory called "mail/".
> Extracting this will create a directory "mail/" in whatever directory
> you run "tar -xvjf" in.
>
> This means that Werner's suggestion will not include any top level
> directory, so this is probably even easier.
>
> cd /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/KMail/mail
>
> tar -cvjf  /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2 .
>
> You will get an archive file in /home/bu4lu3si1/  which only contains
> files and sub directories of "mail/", not he "mail/" directory itself
> [1].
>
> > Then I can change directories
> > to /home/bu4lu3si1/.kde/share/apps/KMail/mail and
> > tar -xvjf  /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2
>
> Correct, or /home/bu4lu3si1/.kde/share/apps/KMail if "mail/" is part
> of the archive.
>
> > The other question in my mind is "When I am in
> > 'bu4lu3si1@ma4ca4su1ru4' in the Konsole, do I create confusion and
> > trouble by
> > specifying '/home/bu4lu3si1/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail'?  Should I
> > simply say '.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail'?"
>
> That was the intend of the orginal suggestion, i.e. running the tar
> commands from the same conceptual level, i.e. the home directory.
> Of course the mail directory itself or the KMail data directory can
> be used as well, like the suggestion above demonstrate.
>
> Cheers,
> Kevin
>
> [1] I personally prefer to have at least one directory level in an
> archive so I can extract it whereever I want without filling the
> current directory with lots of files. Both variants are funcationally
> equivalent, mainly a matter of taste.

Greetings --

I changed directory to /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/kmail and 
entered the command tar -cvjf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2. The 
system response was "tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information.

I changed directory to /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/kmail/mail 
and entered exactly the same command -- with the same response.

I can understand the intelligence of not archiving "nothing" -- but 
there ARE (or, at least, there really OUGHT to be!) folders with files 
in there.  I read through both 'tar --help' and 'tar --usage' and 
failed to see what I should be doing differently.  I assume that I 
really AM doing something wrong, but I cannot yet see what it is.  Does 
anyone have ideas concerning how I can find out what is going on and 
what I should be doing differently to get my job done?

Just in case it will be helpful, let me re-state my situation and 
project.  I have a single computer with a single hard disk drive, but 
with two distros.  One distro is openSUSE 10.2, and its file structure 
is distinguished by the fact that my home folder is /home/bruce.  The 
other distro is Kubuntu Jaunty, and my home folder is 
called /home/bu4lu3si1.  I am trying to move my (openSUSE) KMail 
folders to my (Jaunty) KMail folders.


-- 
布鲁&#26031  麦克阿&#29791
Bruce   Mac Arthur
15875 Switzer
Overland Park, KS 66221
     913-897-4157
     [email protected]