Re: AFIO usage...

["DAVID B. TEAGUE" <teague@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU>]

On Fri, 19 Jun 1998, Jay Barbee wrote:

> I was wondering how I would use AFIO to replace they way I use tar.
> Here is a  sample:
> tar c -X /root/backup/exclude -f /mnt/scratch/linux/backup.tar /
> 
> What I do not know how to do is exclude several file which are listed
> in the file  "exclude" which looks like:
> ---
> /cdrom
> /home/public/old-system-backup/*
> cache*
> core
> ---
> 
> The TAR command works, but I cannot figure out how to use AFIO in the same 
> manner.
> 
> Thanks,
> --Jay


Jay, 

I didn't see anyone answer your question, so I dug out of my files this
extract from the man pages that I give to students who are beginnning
with Linux. Maybe with this and the man page you can figure a solution
to your problem.

I see no really good way to provide an exclude file. Exclude patterns
work pretty well though. Maybe someone will someone will tell both of us
how, if there is a way to do that.

All standard disclaimers apply :)

--David

Man page says:

       ...  | afio -o [ options ] archive  : write archive
       afio -i [ options ] archive  : install archive
       afio  -t  [ options ] archive  : list table-of-contents of
       archive
       afio -r [ options ]  archive   :  verify  archive  against
       filesystem
       afio -p [ options ] directory [ ... ] : copy files

Frequently used options:
       -v -Z -F -K -n
       -s volsize -b blocksize -y pattern -Y pattern


Simplest case first:

Unlike tar which traverses the directory structure in accord with the
pattern you provide, afio takes a stream of paths to the files from the
standard input. 

To generate your file list, you might do this:

    cd  root of the directory tree you want archived

    find . -print  > filelist


This produces your file list. You can edit it, if the files you want
to save do not change backup to backup you can just do this:

       cat filelist | afio -o archive-name.afio

This will save all the files in filelist to the archive named
archive-name.afio. Use -Y pattern (see below) to exclude things. 


To get a listing of the files in the archive,

     afio -t archive-name.afio

To get an ls -l like listing, 

     afio -tv archive-name.afio

To verify

     afio -r archive-name.afio

    This will complain about missing files, and if a file is different
    from the archive version, afio complains about a corrupt archive.


And to install the archive,

     afio -i archive-name.afio

You can install just one file with

     afio -i -y path-to-file  archive-name.afio
  

Continuting the man page:

 -o, reads  pathnames  from  the  standard  input  and
       writes an archive.

       With  -t,  reads an archive and writes a table-of-contents
       to the standard output.

       With -i, installs the contents of an archive  relative  to
       the working directory.

       With  -p,  reads  pathnames  from  the  standard input and
       copies the files to each directory.

       With  -r,  reads  archive  and  verifies  it  against  the
       filesystem.  This is useful for verifying tape archives.

       Creates missing directories as necessary, with permissions
       to match their parents.

       Generates sparse filesystem blocks  (with  lseek(2))  when
       possible.

       Removes leading slashes from pathnames when reading, writ-
       ing, and cataloging an archive, unless instructed not  to.

       Supports  multi-volume  archives during interactive opera-
       tion (i.e., when /dev/tty is accessible and SIGINT is  not
       being ignored).



Frequently used options:
       -v -Z -F -K -n
       -s volsize -b blocksize -y pattern -Y pattern


-v        verbose.

-Z        Pass archive through gzip on archive, and through gunzip
          when unarchiving.j

-F	  says, this is a floppy disk. causes O_SYNC mode with Linux.
	  with later kernels, detects floppy errors

-K        verify output against what is in the memory copy of 
          the disk (a -F is required as well) READ THE MAN PAGE

-n        protect newer existing files (by file mod time)

-s volsize    limits the size of a multi-volume archive - say
	 you are backing to floppies of 1.9 MByte size (one of
	 the larg formats) or multiple small tapes. requires -f,
  	 see man page.

-b blocksize   read or write blocks of this size. You need to 
	 know the block size for the tape device. For floppies 
 	 you can use block size of a disk block,  or a multiple 
	 (say a track, or cylender size).

The following patterns are shell regular expresssions:

-y pattern     save ONLY file with name that match this pattern

-Y pattern     EXCLUDE files with names matching this pattern

-w filename    treats each line in filename as a -y pattern, a 	
               way  to get an include list.

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