Ubuntu Manpage: comprez - safely (un)tar and (de)feather files and directories

NAME

       comprez - safely (un)tar and (de)feather files and directories

SYNOPSIS

       comprez  [ -t | -T ] [ -v | -V ] [ -l | -L ] [ -gz | -z | -I | -lz | -xz | -Z | -zip | -jar ] [ -# ] [ -s
       suffix ] [ -m mode ] [ -p | -P ] [ -h ] [ -- ] file ...

DESCRIPTION

       Comprez is a simple, safe and convenient front-end for the compress(1), uncompress(1), gzip(1), bzip2(1),
       lzip(1), xz(1), tar(1), zip(1) and  unzip(1)  utilities  for  compressing  and  uncompressing  files  and
       directories.  It processes each of its arguments according to the type of the file or directory given:

       If the argument is a plain file, then the file is compressed, ie, feathered.

       If  the  argument  is  a compressed file with a name ending in .Z, .gz, .z, .bz2, .lz, .xz, .zip or .jar,
       then the file is uncompressed, ie, defeathered.

       If the argument is a directory, then the directory is archived into one tar or zip  file  which  is  then
       compressed, ie, tarred and feathered.

       If    the    argument    is    a    compressed   tar   or   zip   archive   with   a   name   ending   in
       .{tar.,tar,ta,t}{Z,gz,z,bz2,lz,xz} or .{zip,jar}, then the archive  is  uncompressed  and  untarred,  ie,
       untarred and defeathered.

       The  new  compressed or uncompressed version will be in the same directory as the original.  A compressed
       file is always uncompressed into a file with the same name sans the feather suffix.  A compressed tar  or
       zip  archive  is  always  unpacked into a subdirectory with the same name as the archive sans the tar and
       feather suffix, even if the archive did not itself contain such a subdirectory.

OPTIONS

-- Interprets all following arguments as files instead of options.

-# Where # is a digit from 1 through 9. This option is passed on to gzip(1), bzip2(1), lzip(1),
xz(1) and zip(1) when feathering with them. --fast may be used instead of -1 and --best
instead of -9.

-gz Uses gzip(1) and a .gz compression suffix when feathering. Default.

-h Prints a helpful usage message.

-I Uses bzip2(1) and a .bz2 compression suffix when feathering.

-l Lists the file or directory name created resulting from each argument.

-L Does not report created files or directories. Default.

-lz Uses lzip(1) and a .lz compression suffix when feathering.

-xz Uses xz(1) and a .xz compression suffix when feathering.

-m mode Apply the given chmod(1) mode argument to any created tar and feather files. Before this
argument is applied, the files have the same read and write permissions as the directories from
which they were created. For security, the default argument is go-rwx. If the mode is -, then
no argument is applied. See chmod(1) for all other allowable formats of this argument.

-p Preserves modes when untarring by giving the p flag to tar(1). Default.

-P Doesn't preserve modes when untarring by not giving the p flag to tar(1). This option may be
necessary on systems where ordinary users are allowed to run chown(2).

-s suffix Creates tar and feather files using the given suffix style. The default suffix style is .tgz.
Note that the suffix style does not dictate the program used for feathering nor the compression
suffix.

-t Only lists the table of contents of the given files. Does not make any changes.

-T (Un)tars and (de)feathers the given files according to their type. Default.

-v Verbose output. For example, reports compression ratios when feathering.

-V Non-verbose output. Does not report compression ratios. Default. -q is a synonym.

-z Uses gzip(1) and a .z compression suffix when feathering.

-Z Uses compress(1) and a .Z compression suffix when feathering.

-zip, -jar
Uses zip(1) and a .zip or .jar compression suffix when tarring and/or feathering. The zip
format combines tarring and feathering. WARNING: zip does not preserve complete Unix
filesystem information for the files it archives, such as links, some permissions, etc. A
tar(1)-based format should be used if this is required.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       ZOPTS     This variable may be set to a string of the above options to supersede  the  default  settings.
                 They may still be overridden by options given on the command line.

       GZIP      This  environment  variable  for gzip(1) is not passed on by comprez so that gzip's behavior is
                 standard and predictable.

       ZIPOPT, UNZIP
                 These environment variables for zip(1) and unzip(1) are not  passed  on  by  z  so  that  their
                 behavior is standard and predictable.

BUGS

       There  should  be  an  option to allow the use of another directory for temporary files needed during the
       (un)tarring and (de)feathering processes.  This would make comprez more useful when the quota or disk  is
       nearly full.

       There should be -k and -K options for keeping the original input files or not.

CAVEATS

       Comprez  is  written to work with gzip versions 1.2.3 and 1.2.4, bzip2 versions 0.9.0 and 1.0.0, Unix zip
       version 2.0.1 and Unix unzip version 5.12.  Other versions will probably work  safely,  too,  but  should
       still be checked for compatibility.

       Every  effort  has  been  made  to assure that the use of this program will not lead to the inappropriate
       deletion or corruption of any files.  However, there are never any guarantees, so please use at your  own
       risk.

VERSION

       2.7.3

AUTHOR

       Steve Kinzler, steve@kinzler.com, May 89/Jun 93/Aug 99/Dec 00

URL

       http://kinzler.com/me/z