xref: /freebsd/bin/pax/pax.1 (revision f374ba41)
1.\"-
2.\" Copyright (c) 1992 Keith Muller.
3.\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
4.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
7.\" Keith Muller of the University of California, San Diego.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11.\" are met:
12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
18.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19.\"    without specific prior written permission.
20.\"
21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
31.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
32.\"
33.\"	@(#)pax.1	8.4 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
34.\" $FreeBSD$
35.\"
36.Dd October 19, 2022
37.Dt PAX 1
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm pax
41.Nd read and write file archives and copy directory hierarchies
42.Sh SYNOPSIS
43.Nm
44.Op Fl cdnvzO
45.Bk -words
46.Op Fl f Ar archive
47.Ek
48.Bk -words
49.Op Fl s Ar replstr
50.Ar ...\&
51.Ek
52.Bk -words
53.Op Fl U Ar user
54.Ar ...\&
55.Ek
56.Bk -words
57.Op Fl G Ar group
58.Ar ...\&
59.Ek
60.Bk -words
61.Oo
62.Fl T
63.Op Ar from_date
64.Op Ar ,to_date
65.Oc
66.Ar ...\&
67.Ek
68.Op Ar pattern ...\&
69.Nm
70.Fl r
71.Op Fl cdiknuvzDOYZ
72.Bk -words
73.Op Fl f Ar archive
74.Ek
75.Bk -words
76.Op Fl o Ar options
77.Ar ...\&
78.Ek
79.Bk -words
80.Op Fl p Ar string
81.Ar ...\&
82.Ek
83.Bk -words
84.Op Fl s Ar replstr
85.Ar ...\&
86.Ek
87.Op Fl E Ar limit
88.Bk -words
89.Op Fl U Ar user
90.Ar ...\&
91.Ek
92.Bk -words
93.Op Fl G Ar group
94.Ar ...\&
95.Ek
96.Bk -words
97.Oo
98.Fl T
99.Op Ar from_date
100.Op Ar ,to_date
101.Oc
102.Ar ...\&
103.Ek
104.Op Ar pattern ...\&
105.Nm
106.Fl w
107.Op Fl dituvzHLOPX
108.Bk -words
109.Op Fl b Ar blocksize
110.Ek
111.Oo
112.Op Fl a
113.Op Fl f Ar archive
114.Oc
115.Bk -words
116.Op Fl x Ar format
117.Ek
118.Bk -words
119.Op Fl s Ar replstr
120.Ar ...\&
121.Ek
122.Bk -words
123.Op Fl o Ar options
124.Ar ...\&
125.Ek
126.Bk -words
127.Op Fl U Ar user
128.Ar ...\&
129.Ek
130.Bk -words
131.Op Fl G Ar group
132.Ar ...\&
133.Ek
134.Bk -words
135.Op Fl B Ar bytes
136.Ek
137.Bk -words
138.Oo
139.Fl T
140.Op Ar from_date
141.Op Ar ,to_date
142.Op Ar /[c][m]
143.Oc
144.Ar ...\&
145.Ek
146.Op Ar
147.Nm
148.Fl r
149.Fl w
150.Op Fl diklntuvDHLOPXYZ
151.Bk -words
152.Op Fl p Ar string
153.Ar ...\&
154.Ek
155.Bk -words
156.Op Fl s Ar replstr
157.Ar ...\&
158.Ek
159.Bk -words
160.Op Fl U Ar user
161.Ar ...\&
162.Ek
163.Bk -words
164.Op Fl G Ar group
165.Ar ...\&
166.Ek
167.Bk -words
168.Oo
169.Fl T
170.Op Ar from_date
171.Op Ar ,to_date
172.Op Ar /[c][m]
173.Oc
174.Ar ...\&
175.Ek
176.Op Ar
177.Ar directory
178.Sh DESCRIPTION
179The
180.Nm
181utility will read, write, and list the members of an archive file,
182and will copy directory hierarchies.
183These operations are independent of the specific archive format,
184and support a wide variety of different archive formats.
185A list of supported archive formats can be found under the description of the
186.Fl x
187option.
188.Pp
189The presence of the
190.Fl r
191and the
192.Fl w
193options specifies which of the following functional modes
194.Nm
195will operate under:
196.Em list , read , write ,
197and
198.Em copy .
199.Bl -tag -width 6n
200.It <none>
201.Em List .
202Write to
203.Dv standard output
204a table of contents of the members of the archive file read from
205.Dv standard input ,
206whose pathnames match the specified
207.Ar patterns .
208The table of contents contains one filename per line
209and is written using single line buffering.
210.It Fl r
211.Em Read .
212Extract the members of the archive file read from the
213.Dv standard input ,
214with pathnames matching the specified
215.Ar patterns .
216The archive format and blocking is automatically determined on input.
217When an extracted file is a directory, the entire file hierarchy
218rooted at that directory is extracted.
219All extracted files are created relative to the current file hierarchy.
220The setting of ownership, access and modification times, and file mode of
221the extracted files are discussed in more detail under the
222.Fl p
223option.
224.It Fl w
225.Em Write .
226Write an archive containing the
227.Ar file
228operands to
229.Dv standard output
230using the specified archive format.
231When no
232.Ar file
233operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
234.Dv standard input .
235When a
236.Ar file
237operand is also a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted
238at that directory will be included.
239.It Fl r Fl w
240.Em Copy .
241Copy the
242.Ar file
243operands to the destination
244.Ar directory .
245When no
246.Ar file
247operands are specified, a list of files to copy with one per line is read from
248the
249.Dv standard input .
250When a
251.Ar file
252operand is also a directory the entire file
253hierarchy rooted at that directory will be included.
254The effect of the
255.Em copy
256is as if the copied files were written to an archive file and then
257subsequently extracted, except that there may be hard links between
258the original and the copied files (see the
259.Fl l
260option below).
261.Pp
262.Em Warning :
263The destination
264.Ar directory
265must not be one of the
266.Ar file
267operands or a member of a file hierarchy rooted at one of the
268.Ar file
269operands.
270The result of a
271.Em copy
272under these conditions is unpredictable.
273.El
274.Pp
275While processing a damaged archive during a
276.Em read
277or
278.Em list
279operation,
280.Nm
281will attempt to recover from media defects and will search through the archive
282to locate and process the largest number of archive members possible (see the
283.Fl E
284option for more details on error handling).
285.Sh OPERANDS
286The
287.Ar directory
288operand specifies a destination directory pathname.
289If the
290.Ar directory
291operand does not exist, or it is not writable by the user,
292or it is not of type directory,
293.Nm
294will exit with a non-zero exit status.
295.Pp
296The
297.Ar pattern
298operand is used to select one or more pathnames of archive members.
299Archive members are selected using the pattern matching notation described
300by
301.Xr fnmatch 3 .
302When the
303.Ar pattern
304operand is not supplied, all members of the archive will be selected.
305When a
306.Ar pattern
307matches a directory, the entire file hierarchy rooted at that directory will
308be selected.
309When a
310.Ar pattern
311operand does not select at least one archive member,
312.Nm
313will write these
314.Ar pattern
315operands in a diagnostic message to
316.Dv standard error
317and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
318.Pp
319The
320.Ar file
321operand specifies the pathname of a file to be copied or archived.
322When a
323.Ar file
324operand does not select at least one archive member,
325.Nm
326will write these
327.Ar file
328operand pathnames in a diagnostic message to
329.Dv standard error
330and then exit with a non-zero exit status.
331.Sh OPTIONS
332The following options are supported:
333.Bl -tag -width 4n
334.It Fl r
335Read an archive file from
336.Dv standard input
337and extract the specified
338.Ar files .
339If any intermediate directories are needed in order to extract an archive
340member, these directories will be created as if
341.Xr mkdir 2
342was called with the bitwise inclusive
343.Dv OR
344of
345.Dv S_IRWXU , S_IRWXG ,
346and
347.Dv S_IRWXO
348as the mode argument.
349When the selected archive format supports the specification of linked
350files and these files cannot be linked while the archive is being extracted,
351.Nm
352will write a diagnostic message to
353.Dv standard error
354and exit with a non-zero exit status at the completion of operation.
355.It Fl w
356Write files to the
357.Dv standard output
358in the specified archive format.
359When no
360.Ar file
361operands are specified,
362.Dv standard input
363is read for a list of pathnames with one per line without any leading or
364trailing
365.Aq blanks .
366.It Fl a
367Append
368.Ar files
369to the end of an archive that was previously written.
370If an archive format is not specified with a
371.Fl x
372option, the format currently being used in the archive will be selected.
373Any attempt to append to an archive in a format different from the
374format already used in the archive will cause
375.Nm
376to exit immediately
377with a non-zero exit status.
378The blocking size used in the archive volume where writing starts
379will continue to be used for the remainder of that archive volume.
380.Pp
381.Em Warning :
382Many storage devices are not able to support the operations necessary
383to perform an append operation.
384Any attempt to append to an archive stored on such a device may damage the
385archive or have other unpredictable results.
386Tape drives in particular are more likely to not support an append operation.
387An archive stored in a regular file system file or on a disk device will
388usually support an append operation.
389.It Fl b Ar blocksize
390When
391.Em writing
392an archive,
393block the output at a positive decimal integer number of
394bytes per write to the archive file.
395The
396.Ar blocksize
397must be a multiple of 512 bytes with a maximum of 64512 bytes.
398A
399.Ar blocksize
400larger than 32256 bytes violates the
401.Tn POSIX
402standard and will not be portable to all systems.
403A
404.Ar blocksize
405can end with
406.Li k
407or
408.Li b
409to specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
410A pair of
411.Ar blocksizes
412can be separated by
413.Li x
414to indicate a product.
415A specific archive device may impose additional restrictions on the size
416of blocking it will support.
417When blocking is not specified, the default
418.Ar blocksize
419is dependent on the specific archive format being used (see the
420.Fl x
421option).
422.It Fl c
423Match all file or archive members
424.Em except
425those specified by the
426.Ar pattern
427and
428.Ar file
429operands.
430.It Fl d
431Cause files of type directory being copied or archived, or archive members of
432type directory being extracted, to match only the directory file or archive
433member and not the file hierarchy rooted at the directory.
434.It Fl f Ar archive
435Specify
436.Ar archive
437as the pathname of the input or output archive, overriding the default
438.Dv standard input
439(for
440.Em list
441and
442.Em read )
443or
444.Dv standard output
445(for
446.Em write ) .
447A single archive may span multiple files and different archive devices.
448When required,
449.Nm
450will prompt for the pathname of the file or device of the next volume in the
451archive.
452.It Fl i
453Interactively rename files or archive members.
454For each archive member matching a
455.Ar pattern
456operand or each file matching a
457.Ar file
458operand,
459.Nm
460will prompt to
461.Pa /dev/tty
462giving the name of the file, its file mode and its modification time.
463The
464.Nm
465utility will then read a line from
466.Pa /dev/tty .
467If this line is blank, the file or archive member is skipped.
468If this line consists of a single period, the
469file or archive member is processed with no modification to its name.
470Otherwise, its name is replaced with the contents of the line.
471The
472.Nm
473utility will immediately exit with a non-zero exit status if
474.Dv <EOF>
475is encountered when reading a response or if
476.Pa /dev/tty
477cannot be opened for reading and writing.
478.It Fl k
479Do not overwrite existing files.
480.It Fl l
481Link files.
482(The letter ell).
483In the
484.Em copy
485mode
486.Pq Fl r w ,
487hard links are made between the source and destination file hierarchies
488whenever possible.
489.It Fl n
490Select the first archive member that matches each
491.Ar pattern
492operand.
493No more than one archive member is matched for each
494.Ar pattern .
495When members of type directory are matched, the file hierarchy rooted at that
496directory is also matched (unless
497.Fl d
498is also specified).
499.It Fl o Ar options
500Information to modify the algorithm for extracting or writing archive files
501which is specific to the archive format specified by
502.Fl x .
503In general,
504.Ar options
505take the form:
506.Cm name=value
507.It Fl p Ar string
508Specify one or more file characteristic options (privileges).
509The
510.Ar string
511option-argument is a string specifying file characteristics to be retained or
512discarded on extraction.
513The string consists of the specification characters
514.Cm a , e , m , o ,
515and
516.Cm p .
517Multiple characteristics can be concatenated within the same string
518and multiple
519.Fl p
520options can be specified.
521The meaning of the specification characters are as follows:
522.Bl -tag -width 2n
523.It Cm a
524Do not preserve file access times.
525By default, file access times are preserved whenever possible.
526.It Cm e
527.Sq Preserve everything ,
528the user ID, group ID, file mode bits,
529file access time, and file modification time.
530This is intended to be used by
531.Em root ,
532someone with all the appropriate privileges, in order to preserve all
533aspects of the files as they are recorded in the archive.
534The
535.Cm e
536flag is the sum of the
537.Cm o
538and
539.Cm p
540flags.
541.It Cm m
542Do not preserve file modification times.
543By default, file modification times are preserved whenever possible.
544.It Cm o
545Preserve the user ID and group ID.
546.It Cm p
547.Sq Preserve
548the file mode bits.
549This intended to be used by a
550.Em user
551with regular privileges who wants to preserve all aspects of the file other
552than the ownership.
553The file times are preserved by default, but two other flags are offered to
554disable this and use the time of extraction instead.
555.El
556.Pp
557In the preceding list,
558.Sq preserve
559indicates that an attribute stored in the archive is given to the
560extracted file, subject to the permissions of the invoking
561process.
562Otherwise the attribute of the extracted file is determined as
563part of the normal file creation action.
564If neither the
565.Cm e
566nor the
567.Cm o
568specification character is specified, or the user ID and group ID are not
569preserved for any reason,
570.Nm
571will not set the
572.Dv S_ISUID
573.Em ( setuid )
574and
575.Dv S_ISGID
576.Em ( setgid )
577bits of the file mode.
578If the preservation of any of these items fails for any reason,
579.Nm
580will write a diagnostic message to
581.Dv standard error .
582Failure to preserve these items will affect the final exit status,
583but will not cause the extracted file to be deleted.
584If the file characteristic letters in any of the string option-arguments are
585duplicated or conflict with each other, the one(s) given last will take
586precedence.
587For example, if
588.Dl Fl p Ar eme
589is specified, file modification times are still preserved.
590.Pp
591File flags set by
592.Xr chflags 1
593are not understood by
594.Nm ,
595however
596.Xr tar 1
597and
598.Xr dump 8
599will preserve these.
600.It Fl s Ar replstr
601Modify the file or archive member names specified by the
602.Ar pattern
603or
604.Ar file
605operands according to the substitution expression
606.Ar replstr ,
607using the syntax of the
608.Xr ed 1
609utility regular expressions.
610The format of these regular expressions are:
611.Dl /old/new/[gp]
612As in
613.Xr ed 1 ,
614.Cm old
615is a basic regular expression and
616.Cm new
617can contain an ampersand (&), \\n (where n is a digit) back-references,
618or subexpression matching.
619The
620.Cm old
621string may also contain
622.Dv <newline>
623characters.
624Any non-null character can be used as a delimiter (/ is shown here).
625Multiple
626.Fl s
627expressions can be specified.
628The expressions are applied in the order they are specified on the
629command line, terminating with the first successful substitution.
630The optional trailing
631.Cm g
632continues to apply the substitution expression to the pathname substring
633which starts with the first character following the end of the last successful
634substitution.
635The first unsuccessful substitution stops the operation of the
636.Cm g
637option.
638The optional trailing
639.Cm p
640will cause the final result of a successful substitution to be written to
641.Dv standard error
642in the following format:
643.Dl <original pathname> >> <new pathname>
644File or archive member names that substitute to the empty string
645are not selected and will be skipped.
646.It Fl t
647Reset the access times of any file or directory read or accessed by
648.Nm
649to be the same as they were before being read or accessed by
650.Nm .
651.It Fl u
652Ignore files that are older (having a less recent file modification time)
653than a pre-existing file or archive member with the same name.
654During
655.Em read ,
656an archive member with the same name as a file in the file system will be
657extracted if the archive member is newer than the file.
658During
659.Em write ,
660a file system member with the same name as an archive member will be
661written to the archive if it is newer than the archive member.
662During
663.Em copy ,
664the file in the destination hierarchy is replaced by the file in the source
665hierarchy or by a link to the file in the source hierarchy if the file in
666the source hierarchy is newer.
667.It Fl v
668During a
669.Em list
670operation, produce a verbose table of contents using the format of the
671.Xr ls 1
672utility with the
673.Fl l
674option.
675For pathnames representing a hard link to a previous member of the archive,
676the output has the format:
677.Dl <ls -l listing> == <link name>
678For pathnames representing a symbolic link, the output has the format:
679.Dl <ls -l listing> => <link name>
680Where <ls -l listing> is the output format specified by the
681.Xr ls 1
682utility when used with the
683.Fl l
684option.
685Otherwise for all the other operational modes
686.Em ( read , write ,
687and
688.Em copy ) ,
689pathnames are written and flushed to
690.Dv standard error
691without a trailing
692.Dv <newline>
693as soon as processing begins on that file or
694archive member.
695The trailing
696.Dv <newline> ,
697is not buffered, and is written only after the file has been read or written.
698.It Fl x Ar format
699Specify the output archive format, with the default format being
700.Ar ustar .
701The
702.Nm
703utility currently supports the following formats:
704.Bl -tag -width "sv4cpio"
705.It Ar cpio
706The extended cpio interchange format specified in the
707.St -p1003.2
708standard.
709The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
710Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
711by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
712.Nm
713and is repaired.
714.It Ar bcpio
715The old binary cpio format.
716The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
717This format is not very portable and should not be used when other formats
718are available.
719Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
720by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
721.Nm
722and is repaired.
723.It Ar sv4cpio
724The System V release 4 cpio.
725The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
726Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
727by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
728.Nm
729and is repaired.
730.It Ar sv4crc
731The System V release 4 cpio with file crc checksums.
732The default blocksize for this format is 5120 bytes.
733Inode and device information about a file (used for detecting file hard links
734by this format) which may be truncated by this format is detected by
735.Nm
736and is repaired.
737.It Ar tar
738The old
739.Bx
740tar format as found in
741.Bx 4.3 .
742The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
743Pathnames stored by this format must be 100 characters or less in length.
744Only
745.Em regular
746files,
747.Em hard links , soft links ,
748and
749.Em directories
750will be archived (other file system types are not supported).
751For backwards compatibility with even older tar formats, a
752.Fl o
753option can be used when writing an archive to omit the storage of directories.
754This option takes the form:
755.Dl Fl o Cm write_opt=nodir
756.It Ar ustar
757The extended tar interchange format specified in the
758.St -p1003.2
759standard.
760The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
761Pathnames stored by this format must be 255 characters or less in length.
762The directory part may be at most 155 characters and each path component
763must be less than 100 characters.
764.El
765.Pp
766The
767.Nm
768utility will detect and report any file that it is unable to store or extract
769as the result of any specific archive format restrictions.
770The individual archive formats may impose additional restrictions on use.
771Typical archive format restrictions include (but are not limited to):
772file pathname length, file size, link pathname length and the type of the file.
773.It Fl z
774Use
775.Xr gzip 1
776to compress (decompress) the archive while writing (reading).
777Incompatible with
778.Fl a .
779.It Fl B Ar bytes
780Limit the number of bytes written to a single archive volume to
781.Ar bytes .
782The
783.Ar bytes
784limit can end with
785.Li m ,
786.Li k ,
787or
788.Li b
789to specify multiplication by 1048576 (1M), 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
790A pair of
791.Ar bytes
792limits can be separated by
793.Li x
794to indicate a product.
795.Pp
796Note that the specified size is for the uncompressed pax image itself.
797If the
798.Fl z
799option is also used, the resulting file may contain fewer
800.Ar bytes ,
801according to the compressibility of the archive contents.
802See
803.Xr zip 1 Pq Pa ports/archivers/zip
804if compressed volumes of predictable size are required.
805.Pp
806.Em Warning :
807Only use this option when writing an archive to a device which supports
808an end of file read condition based on last (or largest) write offset
809(such as a regular file or a tape drive).
810The use of this option with a floppy or hard disk is not recommended.
811.It Fl D
812This option is the same as the
813.Fl u
814option, except that the file inode change time is checked instead of the
815file modification time.
816The file inode change time can be used to select files whose inode information
817(e.g., uid, gid, etc.) is newer than a copy of the file in the destination
818.Ar directory .
819.It Fl E Ar limit
820Limit the number of consecutive read faults while trying to read a flawed
821archives to
822.Ar limit .
823With a positive
824.Ar limit ,
825.Nm
826will attempt to recover from an archive read error and will
827continue processing starting with the next file stored in the archive.
828A
829.Ar limit
830of 0 will cause
831.Nm
832to stop operation after the first read error is detected on an archive volume.
833A
834.Ar limit
835of
836.Li NONE
837will cause
838.Nm
839to attempt to recover from read errors forever.
840The default
841.Ar limit
842is a small positive number of retries.
843.Pp
844.Em Warning :
845Using this option with
846.Li NONE
847should be used with extreme caution as
848.Nm
849may get stuck in an infinite loop on a very badly flawed archive.
850.It Fl G Ar group
851Select a file based on its
852.Ar group
853name, or when starting with a
854.Cm # ,
855a numeric gid.
856A '\\' can be used to escape the
857.Cm # .
858Multiple
859.Fl G
860options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
861.It Fl H
862Follow only command line symbolic links while performing a physical file
863system traversal.
864.It Fl L
865Follow all symbolic links to perform a logical file system traversal.
866.It Fl O
867Force the archive to be one volume.
868If a volume ends prematurely,
869.Nm
870will not prompt for a new volume.
871This option can be useful for
872automated tasks where error recovery cannot be performed by a human.
873.It Fl P
874Do not follow symbolic links, perform a physical file system traversal.
875This is the default mode.
876.It Fl T Ar [from_date][,to_date][/[c][m]]
877Allow files to be selected based on a file modification or inode change
878time falling within a specified time range of
879.Ar from_date
880to
881.Ar to_date
882(the dates are inclusive).
883If only a
884.Ar from_date
885is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
886equal to or younger are selected.
887If only a
888.Ar to_date
889is supplied, all files with a modification or inode change time
890equal to or older will be selected.
891When the
892.Ar from_date
893is equal to the
894.Ar to_date ,
895only files with a modification or inode change time of exactly that
896time will be selected.
897.Pp
898When
899.Nm
900is in the
901.Em write
902or
903.Em copy
904mode, the optional trailing field
905.Ar [c][m]
906can be used to determine which file time (inode change, file modification or
907both) are used in the comparison.
908If neither is specified, the default is to use file modification time only.
909The
910.Ar m
911specifies the comparison of file modification time (the time when
912the file was last written).
913The
914.Ar c
915specifies the comparison of inode change time (the time when the file
916inode was last changed; e.g., a change of owner, group, mode, etc).
917When
918.Ar c
919and
920.Ar m
921are both specified, then the modification and inode change times are
922both compared.
923The inode change time comparison is useful in selecting files whose
924attributes were recently changed or selecting files which were recently
925created and had their modification time reset to an older time (as what
926happens when a file is extracted from an archive and the modification time
927is preserved).
928Time comparisons using both file times is useful when
929.Nm
930is used to create a time based incremental archive (only files that were
931changed during a specified time range will be archived).
932.Pp
933A time range is made up of six different fields and each field must contain two
934digits.
935The format is:
936.Pp
937.Dl [[[[[cc]yy]mm]dd]HH]MM[.SS]
938.Pp
939Where
940.Ar cc
941is the first two digits of the year (the century),
942.Ar yy
943is the last two digits of the year,
944the first
945.Ar mm
946is the month (from 01 to 12),
947.Ar dd
948is the day of the month (from 01 to 31),
949.Ar HH
950is the hour of the day (from 00 to 23),
951.Ar MM
952is the minute (from 00 to 59),
953and
954.Ar SS
955is the seconds (from 00 to 59).
956The minute field
957.Ar MM
958is required, while the other fields are optional and must be added in the
959following order:
960.Ar HH , dd , mm , yy , cc .
961The
962.Cm ss
963field may be added independently of the other fields.
964Time ranges are relative to the current time, so
965.Dl Fl T Ar 1234/cm
966would select all files with a modification or inode change time
967of 12:34 PM today or later.
968Multiple
969.Fl T
970time range can be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
971.It Fl U Ar user
972Select a file based on its
973.Ar user
974name, or when starting with a
975.Cm # ,
976a numeric uid.
977A '\\' can be used to escape the
978.Cm # .
979Multiple
980.Fl U
981options may be supplied and checking stops with the first match.
982.It Fl X
983When traversing the file hierarchy specified by a pathname,
984do not descend into directories that have a different device ID.
985See the
986.Li st_dev
987field as described in
988.Xr stat 2
989for more information about device ID's.
990.It Fl Y
991This option is the same as the
992.Fl D
993option, except that the inode change time is checked using the
994pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
995.It Fl Z
996This option is the same as the
997.Fl u
998option, except that the modification time is checked using the
999pathname created after all the file name modifications have completed.
1000.El
1001.Pp
1002The options that operate on the names of files or archive members
1003.Fl ( c ,
1004.Fl i ,
1005.Fl n ,
1006.Fl s ,
1007.Fl u ,
1008.Fl v ,
1009.Fl D ,
1010.Fl G ,
1011.Fl T ,
1012.Fl U ,
1013.Fl Y ,
1014and
1015.Fl Z )
1016interact as follows.
1017.Pp
1018When extracting files during a
1019.Em read
1020operation, archive members are
1021.Sq selected ,
1022based only on the user specified pattern operands as modified by the
1023.Fl c ,
1024.Fl n ,
1025.Fl u ,
1026.Fl D ,
1027.Fl G ,
1028.Fl T ,
1029.Fl U
1030options.
1031Then any
1032.Fl s
1033and
1034.Fl i
1035options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1036Then the
1037.Fl Y
1038and
1039.Fl Z
1040options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1041Finally the
1042.Fl v
1043option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1044.Pp
1045When archiving files during a
1046.Em write
1047operation, or copying files during a
1048.Em copy
1049operation, archive members are
1050.Sq selected ,
1051based only on the user specified pathnames as modified by the
1052.Fl n ,
1053.Fl u ,
1054.Fl D ,
1055.Fl G ,
1056.Fl T ,
1057and
1058.Fl U
1059options (the
1060.Fl D
1061option only applies during a copy operation).
1062Then any
1063.Fl s
1064and
1065.Fl i
1066options will modify in that order, the names of these selected files.
1067Then during a
1068.Em copy
1069operation the
1070.Fl Y
1071and the
1072.Fl Z
1073options will be applied based on the final pathname.
1074Finally the
1075.Fl v
1076option will write the names resulting from these modifications.
1077.Pp
1078When one or both of the
1079.Fl u
1080or
1081.Fl D
1082options are specified along with the
1083.Fl n
1084option, a file is not considered selected unless it is newer
1085than the file to which it is compared.
1086.Sh EXIT STATUS
1087The
1088.Nm
1089utility will exit with one of the following values:
1090.Bl -tag -width 2n
1091.It 0
1092All files were processed successfully.
1093.It 1
1094An error occurred.
1095.El
1096.Sh EXAMPLES
1097The command:
1098.Dl "pax -w -f /dev/sa0 ."
1099copies the contents of the current directory to the device
1100.Pa /dev/sa0 .
1101.Pp
1102The command:
1103.Dl pax -v -f filename
1104gives the verbose table of contents for an archive stored in
1105.Pa filename .
1106.Pp
1107The following commands:
1108.Dl mkdir /tmp/to
1109.Dl cd /tmp/from
1110.Dl pax -rw .\ /tmp/to
1111will copy the entire
1112.Pa /tmp/from
1113directory hierarchy to
1114.Pa /tmp/to .
1115.Pp
1116The command:
1117.Dl pax -r -s ',^//*usr//*,,' -f a.pax
1118reads the archive
1119.Pa a.pax ,
1120with all files rooted in ``/usr'' into the archive extracted relative to the
1121current directory.
1122.Pp
1123The command:
1124.Dl pax -rw -i .\ dest_dir
1125can be used to interactively select the files to copy from the current
1126directory to
1127.Pa dest_dir .
1128.Pp
1129The command:
1130.Dl pax -r -pe -U root -G bin -f a.pax
1131will extract all files from the archive
1132.Pa a.pax
1133which are owned by
1134.Em root
1135with group
1136.Em bin
1137and will preserve all file permissions.
1138.Pp
1139The command:
1140.Dl pax -r -w -v -Y -Z home /backup
1141will update (and list) only those files in the destination directory
1142.Pa /backup
1143which are older (less recent inode change or file modification times) than
1144files with the same name found in the source file tree
1145.Pa home .
1146.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
1147Whenever
1148.Nm
1149cannot create a file or a link when reading an archive or cannot
1150find a file when writing an archive, or cannot preserve the user ID,
1151group ID, or file mode when the
1152.Fl p
1153option is specified, a diagnostic message is written to
1154.Dv standard error
1155and a non-zero exit status will be returned, but processing will continue.
1156In the case where pax cannot create a link to a file,
1157.Nm
1158will not create a second copy of the file.
1159.Pp
1160If the extraction of a file from an archive is prematurely terminated by
1161a signal or error,
1162.Nm
1163may have only partially extracted a file the user wanted.
1164Additionally, the file modes of extracted files and directories
1165may have incorrect file bits, and the modification and access times may be
1166wrong.
1167.Pp
1168If the creation of an archive is prematurely terminated by a signal or error,
1169.Nm
1170may have only partially created the archive which may violate the specific
1171archive format specification.
1172.Pp
1173If while doing a
1174.Em copy ,
1175.Nm
1176detects a file is about to overwrite itself, the file is not copied,
1177a diagnostic message is written to
1178.Dv standard error
1179and when
1180.Nm
1181completes it will exit with a non-zero exit status.
1182.Sh SEE ALSO
1183.Xr cpio 1 ,
1184.Xr tar 1
1185.Sh STANDARDS
1186The
1187.Nm
1188utility is a superset of the
1189.St -p1003.2
1190standard.
1191The options
1192.Fl z ,
1193.Fl B ,
1194.Fl D ,
1195.Fl E ,
1196.Fl G ,
1197.Fl H ,
1198.Fl L ,
1199.Fl O ,
1200.Fl P ,
1201.Fl T ,
1202.Fl U ,
1203.Fl Y ,
1204.Fl Z ,
1205the archive formats
1206.Ar bcpio ,
1207.Ar sv4cpio ,
1208.Ar sv4crc ,
1209.Ar tar ,
1210and the flawed archive handling during
1211.Ar list
1212and
1213.Ar read
1214operations are extensions to the
1215.Tn POSIX
1216standard.
1217.Sh HISTORY
1218The
1219.Nm
1220utility appeared in
1221.Bx 4.4 .
1222.Sh AUTHORS
1223.An Keith Muller
1224at the University of California, San Diego
1225.Sh BUGS
1226The
1227.Nm
1228utility does not recognize multibyte characters.
1229.Pp
1230File flags set by
1231.Xr chflags 1
1232are not preserved by
1233.Nm .
1234The BUGS section of
1235.Xr chflags 1
1236has a list of utilities that are unaware of flags.
1237