Tested on: Linux Mint 13 Maya (based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS)
It is common to see full directory tree or . (dot) in tar archives. Sometimes, it may be unnecessary hassle to remove all parent directories after extracting or to look for the extracted file which merged with other files in extracted directory. In some situations, it may be desirable to create a tar archive with top directory (with informative name). There has been many discussion about the same. Here is quick summary with an example for future reference.
Some more notes about tar command:
It is common to see full directory tree or . (dot) in tar archives. Sometimes, it may be unnecessary hassle to remove all parent directories after extracting or to look for the extracted file which merged with other files in extracted directory. In some situations, it may be desirable to create a tar archive with top directory (with informative name). There has been many discussion about the same. Here is quick summary with an example for future reference.
Test setup
We will create a test directory with some files in it with following commands (outputs are also shown):$ mkdir -p /tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive
$ touch /tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file{1..10}
$ ls /tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/
file1 file10 file2 file3 file4 file5 file6 file7 file8 file9
$ tar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.26
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.
Full parent directory
Following command creates tar archive with full parent directory structure as shown by --list command.$ tar -caf /tmp/test.tar.gz /tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive
$ tar --list -af /tmp/test.tar.gz
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file3
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file10
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file1
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file8
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file4
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file2
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file7
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file5
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file6
tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive/file9
Dot (.) as parent directory
Following command creates tar archive with dot (.) as parent directory. Note that the tar command ends in a dot (.).$ tar --directory /tmp/path/to/test/dir_archive -caf /tmp/test.tar.gz .
$ tar --list -af /tmp/test.tar.gz
./
./file3
./file10
./file1
./file8
./file4
./file2
./file7
./file5
./file6
./file9
Directory name as parent directory
The trick to get dir_archive as parent directory in tar archive is to use --directory to change directory to one level up as shown below. Note location of dir_archive in the command.$ tar --directory /tmp/path/to/test -caf /tmp/test.tar.gz dir_archive
$ tar --list -af /tmp/test.tar.gz
dir_archive/
dir_archive/file3
dir_archive/file10
dir_archive/file1
dir_archive/file8
dir_archive/file4
dir_archive/file2
dir_archive/file7
dir_archive/file5
dir_archive/file6
dir_archive/file9
Some more notes about tar command:
- Above commands can be combined with used along with exclude directive to by using --exclude='dir_archive/dir_exclude' after the --directory option.
- Do not mix absolute and relative path in tar command for pathname and exclude option. --directory is an exception and can be absolute path while others paths can be defined relative to it.
