Re: [Bug-tar] tar (GNU tar) 1.15.1 bugreport: tar -C <dir> doesn't support fileglobbing

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Helmut,

> Ralph Corderoy <address@hidden> writes:
> > Another alternative is
> >
> >     cd /not/backup
> >     tar -C /backup -cf /backup/tmp.tar $(cd /backup && ls tmp-*.txt)
> >
> > The shell first runs 'cd /backup && ls tmp-*.txt' and replaces the
> > $(...) with the command's output.  It then runs tar.
> 
> No.  It's not an alternative:  If the filenames which are reported by
> "ls" contain white space, the shell will split those filenames into
> words.

Point taken, but it was meant to illustrative of basic shell issues on a
system controlled by the user rather than a robust, catch anything
thrown at us, backup strategy.  Filenames with spaces break most simple
/bin/sh scripting techniques anyway...

    x=
    for f; do
        test -x $f && x="$x $f"
    done

You have to muck around with later shells things like bash's arrays
instead.

Cheers,


Ralph.