Re: [Bug-cpio] cpio can't read large files

[Sergey Poznyakoff]

Hi Sean,

> I've heard people before say to use tar for backups. My problem with
> tar is that it did not (at least in my tests several years ago) backup
> empty directories. We use cpio for system backups, and what makes it
> great is that it will record *everything*.  Tar would typically skip
> things like empty directories, creating quite a problem if you try to
> restore an OS or web file tree.

GNU tar does not skip any files (including empty directories), unless it
is explicitely told to, so this should not create any problem. It also
offers special mode for incremental backups and supports multi-volume
archives. Of course, the usage of tar and cpio differ considerably, so
it will require getting used to. If I knew how exactly your backups are
organised, I could probably give you more specific technical advises on
how that could be achieved with tar. 

Oh, and for your information, I am going to release new versions of GNU
cpio and GNU tar by the end of this month.

Regards,
Sergey