A simple tar & compress library that nicely wraps external system calls.

gem install archive-tar-external

gem cert --add <(curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/djberg96/archive-tar-external/main/certs/djberg96_pub.pem)

require 'archive/tar/external' # or 'archive-tar-external'
   
# Create an archive of all files with an ".rb" extension, the long way.
t = Archive::Tar::External.new('test.tar')
t.create_archive('*.rb')
t.compress_archive('gzip')
   
# Same, but the short way.
t = Archive::Tar::External.new('test.tar', '*.rb', 'gzip')

• The 'tar' command line program.
• At least one compression program, e.g. gzip, bzip2, zip, etc.

It appears that the BSD tar that ships on Mac does not implement the -u option properly by default, and will add a file to the archive even if the timestamp of the file hasn't changed.

The OSX issue was effectively addressed in version 1.5.0, where the default archive format was added and set to 'pax'.

If you come across any other issues, please report them on the project page at https://github.com/djberg96/archive-tar-external.

MS Windows did not have a tar commmand until part way through the Windows 10 lifecycle. If you do not have it then you will need to install it, either as a native command or use something like Cygwin.

The tar program that comes with Solaris will not raise an error if you try to expand a file from an archive that does not contain that file.

Note that Solaris is essentially dead at this point, so I will generally not be accepting patches for it.

This project was originally named "archive-tarsimple", but was renamed on April 7, 2006. Versions of this gem prior to that date are no longer available.

Apache-2.0

This package is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

(C) 2003 - 2023 Daniel J. Berger All Rights Reserved

Daniel J. Berger