Add rpmatch.c

[chaz/tar] / doc / tar.texi

diff --git a/doc/tar.texi b/doc/tar.texi
index ddfbac5d9644d4be91af12a55fa6db884be211e7..d148581bdce962e2438ed3d8899c7c708b30a5b1 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/tar.texi
+++ b/doc/tar.texi
@@ -339,6 +339,7 @@ Using Multiple Tapes
 
 * Multi-Volume Archives::       Archives Longer than One Tape or Disk
 * Tape Files::                  Tape Files
+* Tarcat::                      Concatenate Volumes into a Single Archive
 
 GNU tar internals and development
 
@@ -6528,6 +6529,9 @@ archives to contain only regular files and directories, avoiding
 other kind of special files.  Do not attempt to save sparse files or
 contiguous files as such.  Let's discuss a few more problems, in turn.
 
+@FIXME{Discuss GNU extensions (incremental backups, multi-volume
+archives and archive labels) in GNU and PAX formats.}
+
 @menu
 * Portable Names::              Portable Names
 * dereference::                 Symbolic Links
@@ -6644,19 +6648,6 @@ we plan to make @samp{posix} format the default.
 To force creation a @GNUTAR{} archive, use option
 @value{op-format-gnu}.
 
-Some @command{tar} options are currently basing on @GNUTAR{}
-format, and can therefore be used only with @samp{gnu}
-or @samp{oldgnu} archive formats.  The list of such options follows:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item @value{op-label}, when used with @value{op-create}.
-@item @value{op-incremental}
-@item @value{op-multi-volume}
-@end itemize
-
-These options will be re-implemented for the @samp{posix} archive
-format in the future.
-
 @node posix
 @subsection @GNUTAR{} and @acronym{POSIX} @command{tar}
 
@@ -6665,17 +6656,6 @@ to read and create archives conforming to @acronym{POSIX.1-2001} standard.
 
 A @acronym{POSIX} conformant archive will be created if @command{tar}
 was given @value{op-format-posix} option.
-Notice, that currently @acronym{GNU} extensions are not
-allowed with this format.  Following is the list of options that
-cannot be used with @value{op-format-posix}:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item @value{op-label}, when used with @value{op-create}.
-@item @value{op-incremental}
-@item @value{op-multi-volume}
-@end itemize
-
-This restriction will disappear in the future versions.
 
 @node Checksumming
 @subsection Checksumming Problems
@@ -8546,6 +8526,8 @@ $ @kbd{tar cMff /dev/tape0 /dev/tape1 @var{files}}
 @menu
 * Multi-Volume Archives::       Archives Longer than One Tape or Disk
 * Tape Files::                  Tape Files
+* Tarcat::                      Concatenate Volumes into a Single Archive
+
 @end menu
 
 @node Multi-Volume Archives
@@ -8666,6 +8648,32 @@ People seem to often do:
 
 or such, for pushing a common date in all volumes or an archive set.
 
+@node Tarcat
+@subsection Concatenate Volumes into a Single Archive
+
+@pindex tarcat
+  Sometimes it is necessary to convert existing @GNUTAR{} multi-volume
+archive to a single @command{tar} archive.  Simply concatenating all
+volumes into one will not work, since each volume carries an additional
+information at the beginning.  @GNUTAR{} is shipped with the shell
+script @command{tarcat} designed for this purpose.
+
+  The script takes a list of files comprising a multi-volume archive
+and creates the resulting archive at the standard output.  For example:
+
+@smallexample
+@kbd{tarcat vol.1 vol.2 vol.3 | tar tf -}
+@end smallexample
+
+  The script implements a simple heuristics to determine the format of
+the first volume file and to decide how to process the rest of the
+files.  However, it makes no attempt to verify whether the files are
+given in order or even if they are valid @command{tar} archives.
+It uses @command{dd} and does not filter its standard error, so you
+will usually see lots of spurious messages. 
+
+@FIXME{The script is not installed.  Should we install it?}
+
 @node label
 @section Including a Label in the Archive
 @cindex Labeling an archive