* Changes::
* Configuring Help Summary::
+* Fixing Snapshot Files::
* Tar Internals::
* Genfile::
* Free Software Needs Free Documentation::
Controlling the Archive Format
-* Portability:: Making @command{tar} Archives More Portable
* Compression:: Using Less Space through Compression
* Attributes:: Handling File Attributes
+* Portability:: Making @command{tar} Archives More Portable
* cpio:: Comparison of @command{tar} and @command{cpio}
+Using Less Space through Compression
+
+* gzip:: Creating and Reading Compressed Archives
+* sparse:: Archiving Sparse Files
+
Making @command{tar} Archives More Portable
* Portable Names:: Portable Names
* Split Recovery:: Members Split Between Volumes
* Sparse Recovery:: Sparse Members
-Using Less Space through Compression
-
-* gzip:: Creating and Reading Compressed Archives
-* sparse:: Archiving Sparse Files
-
Tapes and Other Archive Media
* Device:: Device selection and switching
Exclude from dump any directory containing file named @var{file}.
@xref{exclude}.
+@opsummary{exclude-vcs}
+@item --exclude-vcs
+
+Exclude from dump directories and files, that are internal for some
+widely used version control systems.
+
+@xref{exclude}.
+
@opsummary{file}
@item --file=@var{archive}
@itemx -f @var{archive}
with the @option{--atime-preserve=replace} option), or if you set the clock
backwards.
+@cindex Device numbers, using in incremental backups
Metadata stored in snapshot files include device numbers, which,
obviously is supposed to be a non-volatile value. However, it turns
out that NFS devices have undependable values when an automounter
comparing directories; this is fairly gross, but there does not seem
to be a better way to go.
+If you are using the @i{Linux} kernel, the device numbers can also
+change when upgrading to some newer versions of the kernel. This can
+cause the next backup to be full backup on the affected filesystems.
+@xref{Fixing Snapshot Files}, for the information on how to handle this case.
+
Note that incremental archives use @command{tar} extensions and may
not be readable by non-@acronym{GNU} versions of the @command{tar} program.
single line @file{*.o}, no files whose names end in @file{.o} will be
added to the archive.
+Notice, that lines from @var{file} are read verbatim. One of the
+frequent errors is leaving some extra whitespace after a file name,
+which is difficult to catch using text editors.
+
+However, empty lines are OK.
+
+@cindex version control system, excluding files
+@cindex VCS, excluding files
+@cindex SCCS, excluding files
+@cindex RCS, excluding files
+@cindex CVS, excluding files
+@cindex SVN, excluding files
+@cindex git, excluding files
+@table @option
+@opindex exclude-vcs
+@item --exclude-vcs
+Exclude files and directories used by some version control systems.
+@end table
+
+As of version @value{VERSION}, the following files are excluded:
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item @file{CVS/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{RCS/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{SCCS/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{.git/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{.gitignore}
+@item @file{.cvsignore}
+@item @file{.svn/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{.arch-ids/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{@{arch@}/}, and everything under it
+@item @file{=RELEASE-ID}
+@item @file{=meta-update}
+@item @file{=update}
+@end itemize
+
@findex exclude-caches
When creating an archive, the @option{--exclude-caches} option family
causes @command{tar} to exclude all directories that contain a @dfn{cache
use to hold regenerable, non-precious data, so that such data can be
more easily excluded from backups.
-There are three @samp{exclude-caches} option, providing a different
+There are three @samp{exclude-caches} options, each providing a different
exclusion semantics:
@table @option
@end group
@end smallexample
-The same script cant be used while listing, comparing or extracting
+The same script can be used while listing, comparing or extracting
from the created archive. For example:
@smallexample
Right margin of the text output. Used for wrapping.
@end deftypevr
+@node Fixing Snapshot Files
+@appendix Fixing Snapshot Files
+@include tar-snapshot-edit.texi
+
@node Tar Internals
@appendix Tar Internals
@include intern.texi