tar: General-Purpose Variables
1
1 5.4.1 General-Purpose Variables
1 -------------------------------
1
1 -- Backup variable: ADMINISTRATOR
1 The user name of the backup administrator. 'Backup' scripts sends
1 a backup report to this address.
1
1 -- Backup variable: BACKUP_HOUR
1 The hour at which the backups are done. This can be a number from
1 0 to 23, or the time specification in form HOURS:MINUTES, or the
1 string 'now'.
1
1 This variable is used by 'backup'. Its value may be overridden
1 using '--time' option (⇒Scripted Backups).
1
1 -- Backup variable: TAPE_FILE
1
1 The device 'tar' writes the archive to. If TAPE_FILE is a remote
1 archive (⇒remote-dev), backup script will suppose that your
1 'mt' is able to access remote devices. If RSH (⇒RSH) is
1 set, '--rsh-command' option will be added to invocations of 'mt'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: BLOCKING
1
1 The blocking factor 'tar' will use when writing the dump archive.
1 ⇒Blocking Factor.
1
1 -- Backup variable: BACKUP_DIRS
1
1 A list of file systems to be dumped (for 'backup'), or restored
1 (for 'restore'). You can include any directory name in the list --
1 subdirectories on that file system will be included, regardless of
1 how they may look to other networked machines. Subdirectories on
1 other file systems will be ignored.
1
1 The host name specifies which host to run 'tar' on, and should
1 normally be the host that actually contains the file system.
1 However, the host machine must have GNU 'tar' installed, and must
1 be able to access the directory containing the backup scripts and
1 their support files using the same file name that is used on the
1 machine where the scripts are run (i.e., what 'pwd' will print when
1 in that directory on that machine). If the host that contains the
1 file system does not have this capability, you can specify another
1 host as long as it can access the file system through NFS.
1
1 If the list of file systems is very long you may wish to put it in
1 a separate file. This file is usually named '/etc/backup/dirs',
1 but this name may be overridden in 'backup-specs' using 'DIRLIST'
1 variable.
1
1 -- Backup variable: DIRLIST
1
1 The name of the file that contains a list of file systems to backup
1 or restore. By default it is '/etc/backup/dirs'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: BACKUP_FILES
1
1 A list of individual files to be dumped (for 'backup'), or restored
1 (for 'restore'). These should be accessible from the machine on
1 which the backup script is run.
1
1 If the list of individual files is very long you may wish to store
1 it in a separate file. This file is usually named
1 '/etc/backup/files', but this name may be overridden in
1 'backup-specs' using 'FILELIST' variable.
1
1 -- Backup variable: FILELIST
1
1 The name of the file that contains a list of individual files to
1 backup or restore. By default it is '/etc/backup/files'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: MT
1
1 Full file name of 'mt' binary.
1
1 -- Backup variable: RSH
1 Full file name of 'rsh' binary or its equivalent. You may wish to
1 set it to 'ssh', to improve security. In this case you will have
1 to use public key authentication.
1
1 -- Backup variable: RSH_COMMAND
1
1 Full file name of 'rsh' binary on remote machines. This will be
1 passed via '--rsh-command' option to the remote invocation of GNU
1 'tar'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: VOLNO_FILE
1
1 Name of temporary file to hold volume numbers. This needs to be
1 accessible by all the machines which have file systems to be
1 dumped.
1
1 -- Backup variable: XLIST
1
1 Name of "exclude file list". An "exclude file list" is a file
1 located on the remote machine and containing the list of files to
1 be excluded from the backup. Exclude file lists are searched in
1 /etc/tar-backup directory. A common use for exclude file lists is
1 to exclude files containing security-sensitive information (e.g.,
1 '/etc/shadow' from backups).
1
1 This variable affects only 'backup'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: SLEEP_TIME
1
1 Time to sleep between dumps of any two successive file systems
1
1 This variable affects only 'backup'.
1
1 -- Backup variable: DUMP_REMIND_SCRIPT
1
1 Script to be run when it's time to insert a new tape in for the
1 next volume. Administrators may want to tailor this script for
1 their site. If this variable isn't set, GNU 'tar' will display its
1 built-in prompt, and will expect confirmation from the console.
11 For the description of the default prompt, see ⇒change volume
prompt.
1
1 -- Backup variable: SLEEP_MESSAGE
1
1 Message to display on the terminal while waiting for dump time.
1 Usually this will just be some literal text.
1
1 -- Backup variable: TAR
1
1 Full file name of the GNU 'tar' executable. If this is not set,
1 backup scripts will search 'tar' in the current shell path.
1