tar: dereference

1 
1 8.3.2 Symbolic Links
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1 
1 Normally, when 'tar' archives a symbolic link, it writes a block to the
1 archive naming the target of the link.  In that way, the 'tar' archive
1 is a faithful record of the file system contents.  When '--dereference'
1 ('-h') is used with '--create' ('-c'), 'tar' archives the files symbolic
1 links point to, instead of the links themselves.
1 
1    When creating portable archives, use '--dereference' ('-h'): some
1 systems do not support symbolic links, and moreover, your distribution
1 might be unusable if it contains unresolved symbolic links.
1 
1    When reading from an archive, the '--dereference' ('-h') option
1 causes 'tar' to follow an already-existing symbolic link when 'tar'
1 writes or reads a file named in the archive.  Ordinarily, 'tar' does not
1 follow such a link, though it may remove the link before writing a new
1 file.  ⇒Dealing with Old Files.
1 
1    The '--dereference' option is unsafe if an untrusted user can modify
1 directories while 'tar' is running.  ⇒Security.
1