Question

tar a complete directory

Asked by: greatmich

I tar'ed up a directory that is pretty deep with lots of directories and files underneath it.
tar -cvf sct.tar sct

but when I go to the server where I want to extract it at /u01/app
I get theses kinds of errors.
/u01/app/sct/banseed/general/exe/RCBTP09
tar: u01/app/sct/banseed/general/exe/RCBTP09: Cannot open: No such file or directory

How should I tar this up and extract so that It makes the directories.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-11-06 at 02:59:35ID24877468
Tags

tar unix commands

Topic

Bourne Shell (sh)

Participating Experts
1
Points
0
Comments
13

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Tar
    When I tar I use the command "tar cvf backup.tar /home/name/dir/ " When I untar I always get the /home/name/dir file structure. How do I tar a directory and untar into a new file structure without inheriting the previous strucutre. For example, say I wanted to tar ...
  2. tar problem
    my directory contains more than 3000 files. I don't want save all of them but when I perform tar command like tar cvf /dev/rmt0 *.dat tar exit with too many argument I try to divide file into separated command: tar cvf /dev/rmt0 a*.dat tar uvf /dev/rmt0 b*.dat ...
  3. tar command
    Hi All, Our system is AIX 5.1. 1. I wrote a srcipt to tar FOUR directories: tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 / >> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /usr >> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /var>> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /opt >> /logs/col...
  4. tar command
    Hi All, Our system is AIX 5.1. 1. I wrote a srcipt to tar only FOUR directories: tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 / >> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /usr >> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /var>> /logs/coldbackup tar -cvf /dev/rmt0.1 /opt >> /log...
  5. tar command
    how do i use the tar commahnd in a bash shell?? i want to be able to use tar to "zip" a few files together but not sure of how it is done. the man tar isnt very helpful so i was hoping some1 here may shed some light on it for me? Sean
  6. Tar
    How do you tar a file in Linux?

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: simon3270Posted on 2009-11-06 at 03:23:48ID: 25758192

Is it a permissins problem?  What are the permissions on the "exe" directory?

Also it looks as though it is trying to unpack u01/app/sct/..... - did you just use "sct" on the "tar" command line when you created the file, or did you specify /ou1/app/sct?

One problem with tar and permissions is that if you tar up a read-only directory, when you unpack it tar might create the read-only directory first, then try to write files into it.  One solution is to use the "find" command to generate a list of files and directories, then use "cpio" to create the archive.  The "-depth" parameter on "find" prints out the filenames in a directory before the directory name itself - then when you unpack the files, the "cpio" program creates the directory with default ownership when it is writing the files in the directory, then modifies the directory's permissions to the correct values when it gets to the directory entry itself.

So
  find sct -depth | cpio -ocv -O sct.cpio
copy sct.cpio to /tmp on the other machine, cd to the /uo1/app directory, then
  cpio -icvdum -I /tmp/sct.cpio

One thing to be aware of - if you use "find . -depth | cpio -ocv" (i.e. find from the current directory), then the outptu cpio file must be created outside the current directory (otherwise there is a danger that cpio might try to archive the output file into itself!
 

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 03:53:41ID: 25758326

permission are good, I did just use sct in the tar cvf command. The exe directory is just one of the error, they all bomb. I am going to try the tar command one more time the your cpio thing

 

by: simon3270Posted on 2009-11-06 at 04:02:36ID: 25758356

One quick question - do you have write acess to /u01/app itself?

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 04:26:59ID: 25758499

find sct -depth | cpio -ocv -O /u04/oradata/sct.cpio
Usage: cpio -o[acvU][B|CNumber][E{force|ignore|warn}]
       cpio -i[bcdMmrstuUvfS6] [B|CNumber] [[E{force|ignore|warn}] Pattern ...]
       cpio -p[adlMmuUv] [E{force|ignore|warn}] Directory

 

by: simon3270Posted on 2009-11-06 at 04:30:05ID: 25758518

OK, let's do it the old-fashioned way...  :-)

-O (and -I) are recent additions (where recent is within the last 10 or 20 years).

The older version is:

find sct -depth | cpio -ocv > sct.cpio

and

cpio -icvdum < /tmp/sct.cpio

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 04:42:24ID: 25758593

that did not work, this is AIX too on the source, destination will be linux

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 05:01:26ID: 25758697

this is working now  find sct -print | cpio -ov > /u04/oradata/sct.cpio

I will see if this will take care of it on the destination

 

by: simon3270Posted on 2009-11-06 at 05:13:02ID: 25758759

Hmm, without the "-depth" on the find, you will be restoring direcotries before you restore their contents.  Maybe "-depth -print" instead?

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 05:34:19ID: 25758881

crap  I sftp the file on the destination server

cpio -icvdum  < sct.cpio

cpio: warning: skipped 51030 bytes of junk
cpio: : unknown file type

cpio: warning: skipped 12115941 bytes of junk
cpio: : unknown file type

cpio: warning: skipped 339336 bytes of junk
cpio: : unknown file type

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 05:41:56ID: 25758936

doing it again with depth and print.

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-06 at 06:27:12ID: 25759335

didn't work, weird.

 

by: simon3270Posted on 2009-11-06 at 06:51:32ID: 25759550

You need the "c" flag at both ends, to make sure the format is consistent.  since you missed it out when creating the cpio file, you *could* try missing out the "c" when unpacking, but that will only work if the architectures of both ends are the same (little-endian/big-endian, and size of things such as integers).

 

by: greatmichPosted on 2009-11-11 at 04:52:07ID: 25794551

I did it with a tar finally

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...