Preserving Special File Permissions and Symbolic Links Across File Types in RHEL 8.6

Preserving Special File Permissions and Symbolic Links Across File Types in RHEL 8.6

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.6, the tar command is a powerful tool for creating and extracting archive files. When working with archive files, it is often necessary to preserve special file permissions and symbolic links across different file types. This article will explain how to use the tar command with the appropriate flags to achieve this.

Preserving File Permissions

To preserve file permissions when creating an archive, you can use the -p or --preserve-permissions flag. This flag tells tar to preserve the permissions of the files and directories in the archive.

tar -cpvf archive.tar /path/to/files -p

Preserving Symbolic Links

To preserve symbolic links when creating an archive, you can use the -h or --dereference flag. This flag tells tar to follow symbolic links and archive the files they point to, rather than the links themselves.

tar -chvf archive.tar /path/to/files -h

Preserving Both File Permissions and Symbolic Links

To preserve both file permissions and symbolic links when creating an archive, you can use both the -p and -h flags:

tar -chpfv archive.tar /path/to/files -ph

Preserving File Permissions and Symbolic Links Across File Types

When working with different file types, such as text files, executable files, and directories, it is important to preserve both file permissions and symbolic links. The following command shows how to use the -p and -h flags to preserve file permissions and symbolic links across all file types:

tar -chpfv archive.tar /path/to/files -ph

Using the Exception Star Flag

The exception star flag (--exclude=*) can be used to exclude specific files or directories from the archive. For example, the following command will exclude all files and directories with the name "temp" from the archive:

tar -chpfv --exclude=*temp* archive.tar /path/to/files -ph

Preserving file permissions and symbolic links is an important consideration when working with archive files in RHEL 8.6. By using the appropriate flags with the tar command, you can ensure that file permissions and symbolic links are preserved across different file types. Additionally, the exception star flag can be used to exclude specific files or directories from the archive.

References

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 documentation: https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/command_line_reference_guide/tar_command
• GNU tar manual: https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html

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