Re: [Bug-tar] tar: '--overwrite' cannot be used with '--no-overwrite-dir'

[Somchai Smythe]

Hi,

What I want is that existing directories don't get their
owner/group/permissions changed, but non-existing ones get created as
they are in the archive.  All non-directories (files, hard links)
should extract, and if existing files with the same path are there
they get overwritten.

This is part of a very low-tech packaging system for software where
the archive gets unpacked at the root and should not modify existing
directories ownership or permissions, but directories that are new
(not existing on live system but in the archive) get created as
needed.  All files and hard links should be extracted, and if they
already exist they get replaced.  Archives do not have any symlinks or
devices in them (those are created with scripts if needed).

So I'm looking for a combination of options that says extract
files/hardlinks no matter what, create directories if they don't exist
using owner/group/perms from archive, but don't ever change an
existing directory, and don't give errors if existing directory is
different than in archive (just quietly use existing directory).


On 5/20/16, Sergey Poznyakoff <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hi Somchai,
>
>> To achieve the goal of being able to unpack archives on top of a live
>> filesystem but not alter existing system directories,
>
> Just to make sure I understand the goal correctly: while extracting the
> archive, tar should omit content of directories that already exist on
> the filesystem?  E.g., if there is a directory /foo (with no files in
> it) and the archive contains files /foo/bar and /foo/baz, these files
> should not be extracted.  Is that what you need?
>
> Regards,
> Sergey
>