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Linuxsucks @lemmy.world superkret @feddit.org 5d ago

What were the magic letters you need to add again, to just fucking unpack something?

Bonus question: With or without - ?

45 comments

tar --help
- tar -help
  
  Wait no fuc-
  #BOOM
- The coward's way out
- See, I would have man tar’d, and died.
  
  That's on you. You were supposed to input a tar and not a man command
When I point an (un)packing program at a packed archive, the default action should be to fucking unpack it.
And when I point it at anything else, it should pack it into the default format.

Everything else can be options.
- The problem is, tar isn't a packing program, it's a tape archive program that's been repurposed for general files-to-file archival with optional compression plugins
  
  At this point, if it were written today, it probably would behave as you suggest, but changing it now would break too many things that use it
  
  Then it would've been time to deprecate it for this purpose, and use something sensible instead, say about 13 years ago.
  All the old stuff can then keep using tar, but the nicer option can become the standard for user-friendly file extraction.
- "The world should conform to my expectations, not long-standing conventions!"
  
  But if you engage your thinking meat, you might just discover the magic of alias untar='tar xvf'.
  
  "long-standing conventions" is how you end up with Internet Explorer still pre-installed on Windows Server 2025.
  And when was the last time you used the tar "tape archiver" to archive things on tape?
  
  Why are long standing conventions a good thing? Slavery was a longstanding convention.
-xzf extract ze file
- Zip file.
xvfz

Shit.

man tar
- xvzf would extract, verbose, unzip file [filename]
Easy peasy.

tar -h
- $ tar -h; echo $? tar: You must specify one of the '-Acdtrux', '--delete' or '--test-label' options Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information. 2 $
  
  Lemon squeezy.
tar -xzyzrzwzucuauazdufsomething
tar -xvf filename I don’t even know what it does but I’ve memorised it.
- -zxf for me, I've mostly used it on gzipped archives
- x for extract v is verbose f for file input
dtrx = Do The Right eXtraction

Check your local package manager
xvf/zcfv

Xtract/Create
Tar --rfx

Welpi failed. R isn't valid in this context.
- Shit r was mine too. Thought it was recursive
  
  Extract recursively?
In every tar: xf .

Although I do admit looking for 'gtar' and using it first. #onlyUnixUsersGetIt
I remember using a script as a solution, so I'd be a gonner!
just x bro
- tar: Refusing to read archive contents from terminal (missing -f option?)
  
  BOOM
  
  lol
This is why i always install ouch. Tar is for course brain
The real question: GNU tar or not?
This one would be no problem.
- Do you know which version of tar it is?
  Unix or GNU/Linux?
  
  Just use - in the statement to cover your bases.

45 comments