Challenge, Easy,  on  Linux

Archive and Extract Files and Directories with tar

The tar command is one of the most essential Linux utilities for working with file archives. In this challenge, you'll practice three fundamental tar operations.

Task 1: Extract a Website Backup

A compressed archive with a website backup is located at ~/website-backup.tar.gz. The archive contains several HTML pages, stylesheets, JavaScript files, images, and configuration files.

Extract the archive so that the website files appear under ~/website/.

Hint 1

Check tar --help or man tar to find the flags for extracting a gzip-compressed archive file.

Task 2: Create a Project Archive

A project directory at ~/project/ contains source code, documentation, tests, and configuration files (including hidden ones like .gitignore).

Create a gzip-compressed tar archive of the entire project directory and save it as ~/project-backup.tar.gz. The archive must preserve project/ as the top-level directory entry.

Hint 2

To create a gzip-compressed archive, combine the -c, -z, and -f flags.

Task 3: Install containerd from the Release Tarball

Many server-side tools are distributed as pre-compiled tarballs. A containerd release archive has been downloaded to ~/containerd.tar.gz.

Install it by extracting the archive directly into /usr so that the containerd binaries (like containerd and ctr) end up on the system PATH.

Hint 3

Peek inside the archive first to understand its structure:

tar -tzf ~/containerd.tar.gz | head -20
Hint 4

Use tar -C to extract directly into the target prefix. Since the archive has bin/containerd, bin/ctr, and other containerd binaries, extracting into /usr places the binaries at /usr/bin - exactly where they need to be.

How to Author Challenges on iximiuz Labs

Instead of providing a subpar online editing experience, iximiuz Labs offers a helper CLI tool called labctl, allowing you to use your favorite text editor (or a full-featured IDE) to write content from the comfort of your local machine.

Install labctl CLI

curl -sf https://labs.iximiuz.com/cli/install.sh | sh

This will download and install the latest version of the labctl CLI. You only need to do this once per workstation.

Authorize labctl

labctl auth login

This will open a browser window asking you to authorize labctl to access your account. You need to do it after a fresh install of labctl and repeat it whenever the auth session expires.

Pull challenge content

labctl content pull challenge linux-tar-basics

This will create a local copy of the challenge content in a directory named linux-tar-basics. You only need to do this once per challenge.

Stream your changes

labctl content push -fw challenge linux-tar-basics

Run this command in a separate terminal to continuously upload your changes to the server while editing the challenge in your favorite text editor or IDE.

You can also use labctl to create, list, and delete your content. Learn more about the available commands: labctl content --help

Start challenge