Bundling and shrinking files.
WHAT tar DOES
Bundles many files into one, optionally compressed.
WHY IT EXISTS SEPARATELY FROM COMPRESSION
One tool groups, another compresses; they are combined by an option.
WHAT THE COMMON OPTIONS MEAN
c to create x to extract t to list f to name the file v to show progress z for gzip compression j for bzip2
WHAT TO DO BEFORE EXTRACTING ANY ARCHIVE
List its contents.
WHY
Some archives extract into the current directory rather than a folder, scattering files everywhere.
WHAT THE STRIP OPTION DOES
Removes leading directory levels on extraction.
WHERE THAT IS USEFUL
Extracting a release archive whose top folder you do not want.
WHAT zip AND unzip PROVIDE
Compatibility with archives from other systems.
WHAT gzip, bzip2 AND xz DO
Compress single files, with differing speed and ratio.
WHAT TO CHOOSE
gzip for speed, xz for size.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Extracting archives as root, which can create files owned by root inside an account Archives containing absolute paths Very large archives filling the disk during extraction
WHAT TO CHECK BEFORE EXTRACTING
Available space, against the uncompressed size.
