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

On Sunday 26 July 2009 17:49, Martin Bernreuther wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Am Montag, 27. Juli 2009 schrieb Bruce MacArthur:
> > 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.
>
> you missed the directory to tar! It's
> $ cd /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/kmail
> $ tar -cvjf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2 .
> The last part is a single dot, which means "actual directory".
> There are 4 parts:
> - the command "tar"
> - the command options "-cvjf"
> - the tar file (as a addendum to the option "f")
> - the directory to tar (".")
>
> Alternatively you could also
> $ cd /suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps
> $ tar cvzf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.gz kmail
> But now if you untar the files you get a directory "kmail"
> and all the file paths start with kmail/
>
> For more help on tar (as always):
> $ man tar
> or
> $ info tar
>
> Good night,
> 	Martin

Thank you, Martin.  Another person made the same observation/warning 
previously -- but I fouled up at this point.  And I have NO excuses!

In any event, I am confident that I have my tarball (193-MiB give or 
take some), but I am doing something wrong as I attempt to extract.  I 
get NO diagnostics, but the data seems to NOT be quite where it is 
expected to be.  This much is verified by my use of Dolphin as well as 
of the ls Konsole command when I am in the appropriate sub-folders.

I made the tarball by changing directory to --
/suse102/home/bruce/.kde/share/apps/kmail --
and then by entering the command --
tar -cvjf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2 .

I have attempted the extraction in two ways.  In both attempts, I first 
cd /home/bu4lu3si1/.kde/share/apps/kmail --
then I did the Konsole command --
tar -xvjf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2
The second time, I gave the command as --
tar -xvjf /home/bu4lu3si1/suseKMail.tar.bz2 . (entering that dot)

I received no diagnostics -- but KMail cannot yet see my old E-Mail, and 
Dolphin shows that the E-Mail simply is not there.

At this point, I feel REALLY "dense" -- and I sense that the solution to 
my problem is (1) simple and (2) tiny.  But I still do not see the 
obvious!  Your patient and helpful directions are MOST appreciated!


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