compressing tar files / backup scripts

[Adam Hardy <adam.ant@cyberspaceroad.com>]

I've got a really simple backup script which goes like this:

tar -rvf backup$1.tar java/projects
tar -rvf backup$1.tar .mozilla
tar -rvf backup$1.tar bin
echo "compress the whole thing .... "
tar -czvf backup$1.gz.tar backup$1.tar


Basically I am using -r (the append option) to backup some directories 
and then I do a compress on the uncompressed file at the end. tar won't 
let me append and compress at the same time.

However a side-effect of this is in Windows - I transfer the backups 
across to another machine running Windows - when I open the tar file in 
winzip, I then see the uncompressed tar inside the compressed tar, so I 
then have to open that too.

Is there a better way to do this, avoiding the side effect with winzip?

For instance, writing a list of files to a temp file and then piping it 
all into tar in one go? Example commands of some such strategy would be 
great!


Thanks
Adam
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Live in hope, die in despair.