Very Computer

I'm new to linux and use Redhat 5.0 together with win95.
I've downloaded a tar.gz file in win95, mounted the drive where the
file is located as a vfat filesystem.
Now when I try to unpack the file I first type gunzip filename_tar.gz
then tar -x filename_tar. After that I get a blank line and nothing
happens. Can anyone tell me how to decompress these files ?

Thanks,

Joris

(
    x for eXtract
    v for Verbose
    z for ungZip
    f for get the date from a File
)

JPayne

"tar xf filename_tar.gz" will extract silently from an uncompressed
file.

"tar x filename_tar.gz" will try to extract a file named
filename_tar.gz from stdin, I believe... anyway, the use of tar
without the "f" option is pretty much restricted to tape
backup/restores.
---
Roy Stogner

I had the exact same problem.  You'd think there'd be a FAQ for basic
stuff like that, ls -a, ls -l, etc.  I'm actually starting one... :-)

To answer your question, type:

tar zxpvf THEFILE.tar.gz

and it should uncompress.  Don't ask me what all the switches mean; I
don't know yet. ;-)

Type "tar --help " for more help.  (Note that that --help extension will
work on a lot of stuff)

Hope this does it for you.

-Dave

tar stands for 'tape archive'  an ancient Unix carry-over.  So you must
specify that you want to extract from a file.  You can unzip and untar
all in one step with this:

tar -zxf file.tar.gz   (or file.tgz)

Rod

--

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/brick
--

f <filename>: The fiele Tar should use (has to be the last argument)
x:            extract files from Tararchiev
c:            creat new archiev
z:            compress with gnuzip

--
======================================================

: I'm new to linux and use Redhat 5.0 together with win95.
: I've downloaded a tar.gz file in win95, mounted the drive where the
: file is located as a vfat filesystem.
: Now when I try to unpack the file I first type gunzip filename_tar.gz
: then tar -x filename_tar. After that I get a blank line and nothing
: happens. Can anyone tell me how to decompress these files ?

: Thanks,

: Joris

Tar accepts filename with -f option, so the correct syntax is
    tar -xf filename_tar
.
--

Using the command "tar -x filename_tar" you are trying to extract the file
"filename_tar" from the archive on the default input device, which is most
likely your first SCSI tape streamer.
You don't have a SCSI tape streamer? Well, that explains the missing output.

You have to use the option "f" to tell tar, that you want to use a file as
archive. Details see "man tar".

jue
--
Jrgen Exner; jurgenex AT microsoft.com
Sorry for this anti-spam inconvenience