Administering Solaris Flash Archives
The flar command enables you to administer archives. You can split an archive
into sections. Those sections can be modified, added to, or deleted, and then
merged to create an archive. You can also obtain information about the archive.
Caution - Do not modify the Archive Files section or you compromise the integrity of
the archive.
Splitting a Solaris Flash Archive
You can split an archive into sections, which enables you to modify some
sections, add new sections, or delete sections. After you have modified the sections,
you need to merge the sections to create an new archive. For example,
you might want to add a user-defined section or modify the archive identification
section. Do not modify the Archive Files section or you compromise the integrity
of the archive.
The flar split command splits a Solaris Flash archive into sections. The flar
command copies each section into a separate file in the current directory or
specified directory. The files are named after the sections, for example, the archive
cookie is saved in a file that is named cookie. You can
specify that the flar split command save only one section. The syntax of
the command is as follows:
flar split [-d dir] [-u section] [-f archive] [-S section] [-t [-p posn] [-b
blocksize]] filename
-d dir |
Retrieves the sections to copy from dir, rather than from the
current directory. |
-u section |
If you use this option, flar copies the cookie, identification, archive, and section sections. You can specify a single section name or a space-separated list of section names. If you do not use this option, flar copies the cookie, identification, and archive sections only.
|
-f archive |
Extracts the archive section into a directory that is
named archive, rather than placing it in a file with the name
archive. |
-S section |
Only copies the section that is named section from the archive. This
section is user defined. |
Example 4-1 Splitting an Archive
In the following example, archive1.flar is split into three files:
cookie – The first line of the archive, which identifies the version of the archive format. Do not change this identifier.
identification – A copy of the archive identification section with all keyword-value pairs.
archive – The archive itself. This file can be compressed.
# flar split archive1.flar
After the archive is split, you can modify the archive identification section or
add a user-defined section. The sections can then be merged to re-create the
archive.
Merging Solaris Flash Archives
After you have split an archive into sections, you can combine the
sections to create a new archive.
The flar combine command creates a Solaris Flash archive from individual sections. The
following table describes how the flar command handles combining sections.
Conditions |
Description |
|---|
Minimum number of files |
Each
section is assumed to be in a separate file, the names of
which are the section names. These three files must be present:
|
Archive copy
method |
If archive is a directory, the contents are archived before including the directory
in the combined archive by using the cpio copy utility. One of the
following copy methods is used:
pax is the default copy method. The flarcreate command with the -L pax option uses the pax utility to create an archive without limitations on individual file sizes. Individual file sizes can be greater than 4 GB. cpio is an archive method for backward compatibility. The flarcreate command with the -L cpio option creates a cpio archive. Individual file sizes cannot be greater than 4 GB.
|
Compressing an archive |
If the archive identification section specifies
to compress the archive, flar compresses the contents of the newly combined
archive. |
Validation |
No validation is performed on any of the sections. In
particular, no fields in the archive identification section are validated or updated. |
The following command syntax is for flar combine command.
flar combine [-d dir] [-u section] [-t [-p posn] [-b blocksize]] filename
- -d dir
Retrieves the sections to combine from dir, rather than from the current directory.
- -u section
-
If you use this option, flar copies the cookie, identification, archive, and section sections. You can specify a single section name or a space-separated list of section names.
If you do not use this option, flar copies the cookie, identification, and archive sections only.
Example 4-2 Merging a Solaris Flash Archive
In this example, an archive cookie section, an archive identification section, and an
archive files section are combined to become a complete archive. The archive is
named newarchive.flar.
# flar combine newarchive.flar
Example 4-3 Merging a Solaris Flash Archive and Adding a User-Defined Section
In this example, an archive cookie section, an archive identification section, an archive
files section, and a user-defined section are combined to become a complete archive.
The archive is named newarchive.flar. The user-defined section content is in the file
that is named user-defined, which is in the current directory.
# flar combine -u user_defined newarchive.flar
Extracting Information From an Archive
Use the flar info command to obtain information about archives you have already created.
The syntax of the command is as follows:
flar info [-l] [-k keyword] [-t [-p posn] [-b blocksize]] filename
- -k keyword
Returns only the value of the keyword keyword.
- -l
Lists all the files in the archive section.
Example 4-4 Listing Files in an Archive Section
In this example, the command checks the file structure of the archive named
archive3.flar.
# flar info -l archive3.flar
aaa
aaa/bbb
aaa/bbb/ccc
aaa/bbb/ccc/ddd
aaa/eee
