Re: [Bug-tar] taring root file system

[Ville Oikarinen]

> I cannot understand why tar does not whant to backup the rest forlders
> in root filesystem, is it bug? Or may be somebody can help me with any
> ideas.  

I don't think it's wise to even try to tar /proc and /dev. They contain   
pseudo files that are either infinitely long or dangerous to read or both. 
And even if you could tar them, they would be useless in the target 
system.

Maybe option -l helps you here. Use mount or df to see what filesystems 
you have and list every normal filesystem in the tar command like this:

tar -l cjf /path/to/maybe/some/fs/outside/your/system/system.tar.bz2 / 
/var /boot

Note that if you tar a running system, you might not get a working
snapshot of your system, because some programs may modify the states of
their files during the tar. That's why I usually just backup config files 
and personal data. The rest is easy to reinstall.

Ville Oikarinen