Challenge ·Easy

Archive & Compress files with tar - The Survival Guide

Lotfi Hamadene
by  Lotfi Hamadene · on
Linux
Master **tar** in 9 focused steps: create archives, gzip/bzip2/xz compression, list without extracting, extract to a target dir, exclude patterns, append, update. Data lives in /home/laborant/tar_challenge/; expected outputs go to /home/laborant/.
#tar#compression#archive#scripting

Introduction

Welcome to the tar survival guide.

In this challenge everything lives in /home/laborant/tar_challenge/, and you write outputs in /home/laborant/ (q1, q2, ...).

The tasks in this challenge cover many aspects of the tar command: create, gzip, bzip2, list without extract, targeted extraction, exclude patterns, append, update, and xz compression...

Before pinging your favorite AI to found a solution (and its not a shame), explore man tar and test for real, this may be the best way to reinforce your memory and refine your skills.

Man page tips:
  • man tar, then /keyword : replace keyword with create, append, exclude, gzip, xz, update to search for specific topics.
  • tar --help | less for a quick view.
  • Always double-check with tar -tf or tar -xOf before overwriting anything.

Task 1: Create an uncompressed archive

Goal: Create the archive (without compression) /home/laborant/q1_system_backup.tar containing just the directory system/ from /home/laborant/tar_challenge/.

Task 2: Create a gzip-compressed archive

Goal: Create the gzip-compressed archive /home/laborant/q2_system_backup.tar.gz containing just the directory system/ from /home/laborant/tar_challenge/.

Task 3: Create a bzip2-compressed archive

Goal: Create the bzip2-compressed archive /home/laborant/q3_system_backup.tar.bz2 containing the system/ directory from /home/laborant/tar_challenge/.

Task 4: List archive contents

Goal: List the contents of the archive /home/laborant/q3_system_backup.tar.bz2 and save the output to /home/laborant/q4_list.txt (without extracting the archive).

Task 5: Extract archive to a specific directory

Goal: Extract the gzip archive /home/laborant/q2_system_backup.tar.gz into the directory /home/laborant/restored_system/ (create the directory mkdir /home/laborant/restored_system first if it doesn't exist).

Task 6: Create an archive with exclusions

Goal: Create the archive /home/laborant/q5_no_logs.tar from the /home/laborant/tar_challenge/system/ directory, excluding all *.log files and the file system/notes/todo.txt (you will append it in the next task).

Task 7: Append a file to an existing archive

Goal: Append the file system/notes/todo.txt to the existing archive /home/laborant/q5_no_logs.tar.

Task 8: Update a file in an existing archive

Goal: Update the file system/etc/hosts inside the archive /home/laborant/q1_system_backup.tar with the newer version from /home/laborant/tar_challenge/updates/system/etc/hosts.

Steps:

  1. Modify the file /home/laborant/tar_challenge/updates/system/etc/hosts by appending a line (e.g., echo "# update01" >> /home/laborant/tar_challenge/updates/system/etc/hosts) to make it newer than the version in the archive.
  2. Use the command to update only the modified file system/etc/hosts in the existing archive (without recreating the entire archive).
  3. (Optional) Verify that the archive now contains your modification using tar -xOf.

Task 9: Create an xz-compressed archive with exclusions

Goal: Create the xz-compressed archive /home/laborant/q8_full.tar.xz from /home/laborant/tar_challenge/, excluding all *.log files. Then verify the archive contents without extracting it.

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 tar-archive-and-compress-7312b6ac

This will create a local copy of the challenge content in a directory named tar-archive-and-compress-7312b6ac. You only need to do this once per challenge.

Stream your changes

labctl content push -fw challenge tar-archive-and-compress-7312b6ac

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