Normally, we use the tar command coupled with some compression program such as gzip to create a backup of our directories. I.e.
# tar -cf /var/log/backup/tux.tar /home/tux
to backup the home directory of the user tux into the directory /var/log/backup.
We have recently posted about tarball and the use of tar coupled with compression programs to create it. Here, we will go through three (3) short tutorial on using tar.
To compress a list of files
To compress (the c in the options) a list of files into a specific file (the f in the options) whilst [...]
As part of a tarball distribution and also other compressed files, you will come across files with the .Z, .gz and .bz2 extensions. These are basically files that have been compressed using different applications, much like the .zip files predominantly found in the Windows environment.
