Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files

JasGot

What OS?

scottalanmiller

Assuming BASH for launching tar...

Then the "complex way"...

for i in compress compress1 compress2; do tar -czvf $i.tgz $i; done

DustinB3403

Does it matter, the tar process is tar?

But osx is likely where this would be run from.

scottalanmiller

Then the "simple way" with some semi-obvious assumptions...

for i in $(ls); do tar -czvf $i.tgz $i; done

scottalanmiller

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Does it matter, the tar process is tar?

But osx is likely where this would be run from.

OS does not, shell does.

DustinB3403

@scottalanmiller said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Assuming BASH for launching tar...

Then the "complex way"...
for i in compress compress1 compress2; do tar -czvf $i.tgz $i; done

That I think would require me to fill out the tar command on a forever ongoing process. Hoping to be able to just target the --- folder root for.

scottalanmiller

Or another way....

for i in $(ls -r | grep compress); do tar -czvf $i.tgz $i; done

scottalanmiller

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

@scottalanmiller said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:
Assuming BASH for launching tar...

Then the "complex way"...
for i in compress compress1 compress2; do tar -czvf $i.tgz $i; done
That I think would require me to fill out the tar command on a forever ongoing process. Hoping to be able to just target the --- folder root for.

Should be easy to do, you just have to define what makes the target folder obviously the target and write the bit in the $() to return that and away you go.

JasGot

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Does it matter, the tar process is tar?

But osx is likely where this would be run from.

Because I was going to write a cmd for loop for you if it were Win, and I was going to pass if it were *nix.

DustinB3403

Well of the --- folder never changes, but the content beneath it does, that would be what I would target.

I'm trying to resolve our user base breaking our backups by have file paths longer than 255 characters, which the simplest way I can think of is to just compress everything in --- folder.

scottalanmiller

@JasGot said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Does it matter, the tar process is tar?

But osx is likely where this would be run from.

Because I was going to write a cmd for loop for you if it were Win, and I was going to pass if it were *nix.

It's the shell, not the OS, that determines the looping structure. PowerShell on Linux is the same as on Windows. Bash on Windows is the same as on Linux.

Obsolesce

I don't follow your - - - naming scheme. Can you explain differently?

DustinB3403

@Obsolesce said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

I don't follow your - - - naming scheme. Can you explain differently?

Yeah the spacing didn't copy over from mobile.

Essentially it's

Root folder

sub folder
- child folder
different sub folder from root
- child folder

DustinB3403

Okay so this is the next annoyance with this, I am getting the entire parent folder up until the target folder in the compressed file.

IE: compressed-folder.tar contains

Share Name
- Sub-Parent-Folder
  - Next-Level-Parent-Folder
    - Target-Folder
      . . . . all of the files and sub-folders

Anyway to have tar just target the Target-Folder that is on an SMB share, compress that specifically (and it's children to a single file) so I can then move that compressed file without all of the overhead folder structure?

DustinB3403

I suppose I could mount each and every Target-Folder but that seems completely counter intuitive and a massive effort. . .

Obsolesce

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Okay so this is the next annoyance with this, I am getting the entire parent folder up until the target folder in the compressed file.

IE: compressed-folder.tar contains

Share Name

Sub-Parent-Folder

Next-Level-Parent-Folder

Target-Folder
. . . . all of the files and sub-folders

Anyway to have tar just target the Target-Folder that is on an SMB share, compress that specifically (and it's children to a single file) so I can then move that compressed file without all of the overhead folder structure?

Why not specify /path/to/targetfolder/

DustinB3403

@Obsolesce said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Why not specify /path/to/targetfolder/

I'm not following what you mean.

How I'm currently doing this is tar -zcvf Compressed.zip /Volumes/Parent/Child/Target-folder/

Edit:

And I get everything in the path /Volumes/Parent/Child/Target-folder/ so the compressed file, when decompressed is /Volumes/Parent/Child/Target-Folder/some-stuff

What I want is just Target-Folder and it's contents, not the parent folder path.

DustinB3403

Supposedly tar -C /Volumes/Parent/Child/Target-folder -cvf Compressed.zip SelectedDirectory works. . . let me test that.

DustinB3403

@DustinB3403 said in Question - how to use tar to compress multiple top level folders recursively into discrete zip files:

Supposedly tar -C /Volumes/Parent/Child/Target-folder -cvf Compressed.zip SelectedDirectory works. . . let me test that.

Okay so that does work, just is a pain in the rear to have to do manually.