unpacking a tarball (running Win98)

[carpeliam]

I downloaded a Cygnus utility, but when I type &quot;tar --help&quot; at the DOS cmd line it returns a list of help options that go off the screen.<br><br>So somebody who could tell me how to look at the entire help file would be great.<br><br>Or, if somebody can tell me how to successfully unpack a file of type .tar.gz , that'd be even better.<br><br>Thanks... <p>Liam Morley<br><a href=mailto:lmorley@wpi.edu>lmorley@wpi.edu</a><br><a href=

http://www.wpi.edu/~lmorley/>

] :: imotic :: website :: [</a><br>"light the deep, and bring silence to the world.<br>
light the world, and bring depth to the silence."

 

[Karl Blessing]

tar is typically for Linux/Unix machines, in linux I always used<br>tar xzvf tarfilename<br>which would create a folder of that name, and extract everything into that folder. <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[carpeliam]

Right... let me explain just a bit why I downloaded a tar file... I decided to start working with the Mozilla project, and they use tarballs instead of zips because tarballs have better date handling I guess, and so are better for CVS (if you need to compare two versions of the same file by date). So they sent me to cygnus, which I already use for generating makefiles (so linux developers can compile my stuff)... I had MKS Kornshell at work, which has scrolling, but I don't have that at home- all I have is Windows MS-DOS Prompt.<br><br>I tried &quot;tar xzvf mozilla-source.tar.gz&quot;, but got the following message:<br><br>tar (child): Cannot exec gzip: No such file or directory<br>tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now<br>/CYGNUS/CYGWIN~1/H-I586~1/BIN/TAR.EXE: Child returned status 2<br>/CYGNUS/CYGWIN~1/H-I586~1/BIN/TAR.EXE: Error exit delayed from previous errors<br><br>Can anybody give me a hand? Thanks... <p>Liam Morley<br><a href=mailto:lmorley@wpi.edu>lmorley@wpi.edu</a><br><a href=

http://www.wpi.edu/~lmorley/>

] :: imotic :: website :: [</a><br>"light the deep, and bring silence to the world.<br>
light the world, and bring depth to the silence.

 

[Karl Blessing]

I assume the dos version of tar, and tar itself do not carry the same options, I would just try to read each thing on it's help menu and take it from there, or just download the zip, which I havent had a problem with the mozilla zip myself.<br> <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[carpeliam]

I don't think they have a zip for the nightly build, and in any case, you can't use a zip for CVS.<br><br>Actually, I tried the ¦more pipe, and that seemed to work to some extent. I was able to find help... but it doesn't seem to be working all that well for me.. Somebody with more experience might know which options I might need?<br><br>So I'll post the entire list... I apologize for the length.<br><br>GNU `tar' saves many files together into a single tape or disk archive, and can restore individual files from the archive.<br><br>Usage: /CYGNUS/CYGWIN~1/H-I586~1/BIN/TAR.EXE [OPTION]... [FILE]...<br><br>If a long option shows an argument as mandatory, then it is mandatory for the equivalent short option also.&nbsp;&nbsp;Similarly for optional arguments.<br><br>Main operation mode:<br>-t, --list&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;list the contents of an archive<br>-x, --extract, --get&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;extract files from an archive<br>-c, --create&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;create a new archive<br>-d, --diff, --compare&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;find differences between archive and file system<br>-r, --append&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;append files to the end of an archive<br>-u, --update&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;only append files newer than copy in archive<br>-A, --catenate append tar files to an archive<br>--concatenate same as -A<br>--delete&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; delete from the archive (not on mag tapes!)<br><br>Operation modifiers:<br>-W, --verify&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;attempt to verify the archive after writing it<br>--remove-files&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;remove files after adding them to the archive<br>-k, --keep-old-files&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;don't overwrite existing files when extracting<br>-U, --unlink-first&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;remove each file prior to extracting over it<br>--recursive-unlink&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory<br>--sparse&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;handle sparse files efficiently<br>-O, --to-stdout&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;extract files to standard output<br>-G, --incremental&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;handle old GNU-format incremental backup<br>-g, --listed-incremental&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;handle new GNU-format incremental backup<br>--ignore-failed-read&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;do not exit with nonzero on unreadable files<br><br>Handling of file attributes:<br>--owner=NAME&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;force NAME as owner for added files<br>--group=NAME&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;force NAME as group for added files<br>--mode=CHANGES&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;force (symbolic) mode CHANGES for added files<br>--atime-preserve&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;don't change access times on dumped files<br>--modification-time&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;don't extract file modified time<br>--same-owner&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;try extracting files with the same ownership<br>--numeric-owner&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;always use numbers for user/group names<br>-p, --same-permissions&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;extract all protection information<br>--preserve-permissions&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as -p<br>-order&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;sort names to extract to match archive<br>--preserve-order&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as -s<br>--preserve&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as both -p and -s<br><br>Device selection and switching:<br>-f, --file=ARCHIVE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;use archive file or device ARCHIVE<br>--force-local&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;archive file is local even if has a colon<br>--rsh-command=COMMAND&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;use remote COMMAND instead of rsh<br>-[0-7][lmh]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;specify drive and density<br>-M, --multi-volume&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;create/list/extract multi-volume archive<br>-L, --tape-length=NUM&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;change tape after writing NUM x 1024 bytes<br>-F, --info-script=FILE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;run script at end of each tape (implies -M)<br>--new-volume-script=FILE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as -F FILE<br>--volno-file=FILE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;use/update the volume number in FILE<br><br>Device blocking:<br>-b, --blocking-factor=BLOCKS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;BLOCKS x 512 bytes per record<br>--record-size=SIZE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;SIZE bytes per record, multiple of 512<br>-i, --ignore-zeros&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)<br>-B, --read-full-records&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)<br><br>Archive format selection:<br>-V, --label=NAME&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;create archive with volume name NAME PATTERN at list/extract time, a globbing PATTERN<br>-o, --old-archive, --portability&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;write a V7 format archive<br>--posix&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;write a POSIX conformant archive<br>-z, --gzip, --ungzip&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;filter the archive through gzip<br>-Z, --compress, --uncompress&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;filter the arc<br>hive through compress<br>--use-compress-program=PROG&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;filter through PROG (must accept -d)<br><br>Local file selection:<br>-C, --directory=DIR&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;change to directory DIR<br>-T, --files-from=NAME&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;get names to extract or create from file NAME<br>--null&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-T reads null-terminated names, disable -C<br>--exclude=PATTERN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;exclude files, given as a globbing PATTERN<br>-X, --exclude-from=FILE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;exclude globbing patterns listed in FILE<br>-P, --absolute-names&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;don't strip leading `/'s from file names<br>-h, --dereference&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;dump instead the files symlinks point to<br>--no-recursion&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;avoid descending automatically in directories<br>-l, --one-file-system&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;stay in local file system when creating archive<br>-K, --starting-file=NAME&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;begin at file NAME in the archive<br>-N, --newer=DATE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;only store files newer than DATE<br>--newer-mtime&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;compare date and time when data changed only<br>--after-date=DATE&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as -N<br>--backup[=CONTROL]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;backup before removal, choose version control<br>--suffix=SUFFIX&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;backup before removel, override usual suffix<br><br>Informative output:<br>--help&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print this help, then exit<br>--version&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print tar program version number, then exit<br>-v, --verbose&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;verbosely list files processed<br>--checkpoint&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print directory names while reading the archive<br>--totals&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print total bytes written while creating archive<br>-R, --block-number&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;show block number within archive with each message<br>-w, --interactive&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ask for confirmation for every action<br><br>--confirmation&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;same as -w<br><br>The backup suffix is `~', unless set with --suffix or SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX.<br>The version control may be set with --backup or VERSION_CONTROL, values are:<br><br>t, numbered&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;make numbered backups<br>nil, existing&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;numbered if numbered backups exist, simple otherwise<br>never, simple&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;always make simple backups<br><br>GNU tar cannot read nor produce `--posix' archives.&nbsp;&nbsp;If POSIXLY_CORRECT<br>is set in the environment, GNU extensions are disallowed with `--posix'<br>.<br>Support for POSIX is only partially implemented, don't count on it yet.<br>ARCHIVE may be FILE, HOST:FILE or USER@HOST:FILE; and FILE may be a file<br>or a device.&nbsp;&nbsp;*This* `tar' defaults to `-f- -b20'. <p>Liam Morley<br><a href=mailto:lmorley@wpi.edu>lmorley@wpi.edu</a><br><a href=

http://www.wpi.edu/~lmorley/>

] :: imotic :: website :: [</a><br>"light the deep, and bring silence to the world.<br>
light the world, and bring depth to the silence.

 

[Karl Blessing]

my commands should have worked, other than the 'z' part which requires running it through gzip, if you have a tar.gz, it is first tarred up, then it's packed down with gzip. <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[carpeliam]

Then do you know why I might be getting that error message? There is a gzip.exe file in that directory... <p>Liam Morley<br><a href=mailto:lmorley@wpi.edu>lmorley@wpi.edu</a><br><a href=

http://www.wpi.edu/~lmorley/>

] :: imotic :: website :: [</a><br>"light the deep, and bring silence to the world.<br>
light the world, and bring depth to the silence.

 

[Karl Blessing]

&quot;tar (child): Cannot exec gzip: No such file or directory&quot;<br>dont know why I didnt see it before, but yea it's definitly not finding gzip, when you call the tar, from what directory are you calling it from, also is it just tar and gzip executables, and no configuration files? you may need to move to the tar directory, and run tar from there, giving it the full path of the tar.gz file, so that it can look in the currect directory you are running out of, and find gzip there.<br> <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[Karl Blessing]

....or you could do them seperatly, run gzip on it first, then do the tar (without the gzip parameter). <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[fenris]

Did you try to use winzip? I have used it in the past to unzip tarballs.<br><br>Also the command in linux is tar -xzvf file.tar.gz<br><br> <p>Troy Williams B.Eng.<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[Karl Blessing]

fenris if you look above I already mentioned the linux type command, he's doing this in Windows. <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[fenris]

You are right Karl, I didn't read the thread carefully. But I did notice that the switches apear to be options from what Liam posted on the results of the switches that the tar command takes. <p>Troy Williams B.Eng.<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[carpeliam]

thanks guys.. it turned out to be that my version of the file wasn't complete. I downloaded a fresh copy, and it works fine (with those options). Thanks!