-GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2007-10-29
+GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2007-10-31
Please send GNU tar bug reports to <bug-tar@gnu.org>
\f
options can be specified, the actions will be executed in order of
their appearance in the command line.
+* Info (end-of-volume) scripts
+
+The value of the blocking factor is made available to info and
+checkpoint scripts via environment variable TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR.
+
\f
version 1.19 - Sergey Poznyakoff, 2007-10-10
The @var{action} argument can be one of the following:
@table @asis
+@item bell
+Produce an audible bell on the console.
+
+@item dot
+@itemx .
+Print a single dot on the standard listing stream.
+
@item echo
Display a textual message on the standard error, with the status and
number of the checkpoint. This is the default.
Display @var{string} on the standard error. Before output, the string
is subject to meta-character expansion.
-@item dot
-@itemx .
-Print a single dot on the standard listing stream.
+@item exec=@var{command}
+Execute the given @var{command}.
@item sleep=@var{time}
Wait for @var{time} seconds.
-@item exec=@var{command}
-Execute the given @var{command}.
+@item ttyout=@var{string}
+Output @var{string} on the current console (@file{/dev/tty}).
@end table
Several @option{--checkpoint-action} options can be specified. The
--checkpoint-action='echo=\aHit %s checkpoint #%u'
@end smallexample
+@cindex @code{bell}, checkpoint action
+There is also a special action which produces an audible signal:
+@samp{bell}. It is not equivalent to @samp{echo='\a'}, because
+@samp{bell} sends the bell directly to the console (@file{/dev/tty}),
+whereas @samp{echo='\a'} sends it to the standard error.
+
+@cindex @code{ttyout}, checkpoint action
+The @samp{ttyout=@var{string}} action outputs @var{string} to
+@file{/dev/tty}, so it can be used even if the standard output is
+redirected elsewhere. The @var{string} is subject to the same
+modifications as with @samp{echo} action. In contrast to the latter,
+@samp{ttyout} does not prepend @command{tar} executable name to the
+string, nor does it output a newline after it. For example, the
+following action will print the checkpoint message at the same screen
+line, overwriting any previous message:
+
+@smallexample
+--checkpoint-action="ttyout=\rHit %s checkpoint #%u"
+@end smallexample
+
@cindex @code{dot}, checkpoint action
Another available checkpoint action is @samp{dot} (or @samp{.}). It
instructs @command{tar} to print a single dot on the standard listing
@item TAR_ARCHIVE
The name of the archive @command{tar} is processing.
+@vrindex TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR, checkpoint script environment
+@item TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
+Current blocking factor (@pxref{Blocking}.
+
@vrindex TAR_CHECKPOINT, checkpoint script environment
@item TAR_CHECKPOINT
The checkpoint number.
@item TAR_ARCHIVE
The name of the archive @command{tar} is processing.
+@vrindex TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR, info script environment variable
+@item TAR_BLOCKING_FACTOR
+Current blocking factor (@pxref{Blocking}.
+
@vrindex TAR_VOLUME, info script environment variable
@item TAR_VOLUME
Ordinal number of the volume @command{tar} is about to start.