From 018de583736a72435dfed331383a236830a08d04 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sergey Poznyakoff Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 14:41:56 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] New file --- doc/dumpdir.texi | 132 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 132 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/dumpdir.texi diff --git a/doc/dumpdir.texi b/doc/dumpdir.texi new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab917c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/dumpdir.texi @@ -0,0 +1,132 @@ +@c This is part of the paxutils manual. +@c Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +@c Written by Sergey Poznyakoff +@c This file is distributed under GFDL 1.1 or any later version +@c published by the Free Software Foundation. + + Incremental archives keep information about contents of each +dumped directory in special data blocks called @dfn{dumpdirs}. + + Dumpdir is a sequence of entries of the following form: + +@smallexample +@var{C} @var{filename} \0 +@end smallexample + +@noindent +where @var{C} is one of the @dfn{control codes} described below, +@var{filename} is the name of the file @var{C} operates upon, and +@samp{\0} represents a nul character (ASCII 0). The white space +characters were added for readability, real dumpdirs do not contain +them. + + Each dumpdir ends with a single nul character. + + The following table describes control codes and their meanings: + +@table @samp +@item Y +@var{filename} is contained in the archive. + +@item N +@var{filename} was present in the directory at the time the archive +was made, yet it was not dumped to the archive, because it had not +changed since the last backup. + +@item D +@var{filename} is a directory. + +@item R +This code requests renaming of the @var{filename} to the name +specified with the following @samp{T} command. + +@item T +Specify target file name for @samp{R} command (see below). + +@item X +Specify @dfn{temporary directory} name for a rename operation (see below). +@end table + + Codes @samp{Y}, @samp{N} and @samp{D} require @var{filename} argument +to be a relative file name to the directory this dumpdir describes, +whereas codes @samp{R}, @samp{T} and @samp{X} require their argument +to be an absolute file name. + + The three codes @samp{R}, @samp{T} and @samp{X} specify a +@dfn{renaming operation}. In the simplest case it is: + +@smallexample +R@file{source}\0T@file{dest}\0 +@end smallexample + +@noindent +which means ``rename file @file{source} to file @file{dest}''. + + However, there are cases that require using a @dfn{temporary +directory}. For example, consider the following scenario: + +@enumerate 1 +@item +Previous run dumped a directory @file{foo} which contained the +following three directories: + +@smallexample +a +b +c +@end smallexample + +@item +They were renamed @emph{cyclically}, so that: + +@example +@file{a} became @file{b} +@file{b} became @file{c} +@file{c} became @file{a} +@end example + +@item +New incremental dump was made. +@end enumerate + + This case cannot be handled by three successive renames, since +renaming @file{a} to @file{b} will destroy existing directory. +To handle such case a temporary directory is required. @GNUTAR{} +will create the following dumpdir (newlines have been added for +readability): + +@smallexample +@group +Xfoo\0 +Rfoo/a\0T\0 +Rfoo/b\0Tfoo/c\0 +Rfoo/c\0Tfoo/a\0 +R\0Tfoo/a\0 +@end group +@end smallexample + + The first command, @samp{Xfoo\0}, instructs the extractor to create a +temporary directory in the directory @file{foo}. Second command, +@samp{Rfoo/aT\0}, says ``rename file @file{foo/a} to the temporary +directory that has just been created'' (empty file name after a +command means use temporary directory). Third and fourth commands +work as usual, and, finally, the last command, @samp{R\0Tfoo/a\0} +tells tar to rename the temporary directory to @file{foo/a}. + + The exact placement of a dumpdir in the archive depends on the +archive format (@pxref{Formats}): + +@itemize +@item PAX archives + +In PAX archives, dumpdir is stored in the extended header of the +corresponding directory, in variable @code{GNU.dumpdir}. + +@item GNU and old GNU archives + +These formats implement special header type @samp{D}, which is similar +to ustar header @samp{5} (directory), except that it preceeds a data +block containing the dumpdir. +@end itemize + +@c End of dumpdir.texi -- 2.45.2