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(find.info)Archiving

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Archiving
=========

   You can pass a list of files produced by `find' to a file archiving
program.  GNU `tar' and `cpio' can both read lists of file names from
the standard input--either delimited by nulls (the safe way) or by
blanks (the lazy, risky default way).  To use null-delimited names,
give them the `--null' option.  You can store a file archive in a file,
write it on a tape, or send it over a network to extract on another
machine.

   One common use of `find' to archive files is to send a list of the
files in a directory tree to `cpio'.  Use `-depth' so if a directory
does not have write permission for its owner, its contents can still be
restored from the archive since the directory's permissions are
restored after its contents.  Here is an example of doing this using
`cpio'; you could use a more complex `find' expression to archive only
certain files.

     find . -depth -print0 |
       cpio --create --null --format=crc --file=/dev/nrst0

   You could restore that archive using this command:

     cpio --extract --null --make-dir --unconditional \
       --preserve --file=/dev/nrst0

   Here are the commands to do the same things using `tar':

     find . -depth -print0 |
       tar --create --null --files-from=- --file=/dev/nrst0
     
     tar --extract --null --preserve-perm --same-owner \
       --file=/dev/nrst0

   Here is an example of copying a directory from one machine to
another:

     find . -depth -print0 | cpio -0o -Hnewc |
       rsh OTHER-MACHINE "cd `pwd` && cpio -i0dum"