added small doc about tar 'pax header' format

1 files changed, 239 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/tar_pax.txt b/docs/tar_pax.txt
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+'pax headers' is POSIX 2003 (iirc) addition designed to fix
+tar format limitations - older tar format has fixed fields
+for everything (filename, uid, filesize etc) which can overflow.
+
+pax Header Block
+
+The pax header block shall be identical to the ustar header block 
+described in ustar Interchange Format, except that two additional 
+typeflag values are defined:
+
+x
+    Represents extended header records for the following file in 
+the archive (which shall have its own ustar header block).
+
+g
+    Represents global extended header records for the following 
+files in the archive. Each value shall affect all subsequent files 
+that do not override that value in their own extended header 
+record and until another global extended header record is reached 
+that provides another value for the same field. The typeflag g 
+global headers should not be used with interchange media that 
+could suffer partial data loss in transporting the archive.
+
+For both of these types, the size field shall be the size of the 
+extended header records in octets. The other fields in the header 
+block are not meaningful to this version of the pax utility. 
+However, if this archive is read by a pax utility conforming to 
+the ISO POSIX-2:1993 standard, the header block fields are used to 
+create a regular file that contains the extended header records as 
+data. Therefore, header block field values should be selected to 
+provide reasonable file access to this regular file.
+
+A further difference from the ustar header block is that data 
+blocks for files of typeflag 1 (the digit one) (hard link) may be 
+included, which means that the size field may be greater than 
+zero.
+
+pax Extended Header
+
+An extended header shall consist of one or more records, each 
+constructed as follows:
+
+"%d %s=%s\n", <length>, <keyword>, <value>
+
+The <length> field shall be the decimal length of the extended 
+header record in octets, including length string itself and the 
+trailing <newline>.
+
+[skip]
+
+atime
+    The file access time for the following file(s), equivalent to 
+the value of the st_atime member of the stat structure for a file, 
+as described by the stat() function. The access time shall be 
+restored if the process has the appropriate privilege required to 
+do so. The format of the <value> shall be as described in pax 
+Extended Header File Times.
+
+charset
+    The name of the character set used to encode the data in the 
+following file(s).
+
+    The encoding is included in an extended header for information 
+only; when pax is used as described in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, it 
+shall not translate the file data into any other encoding. The 
+BINARY entry indicates unencoded binary data.
+
+    When used in write or copy mode, it is implementation-defined 
+whether pax includes a charset extended header record for a file.
+
+comment
+    A series of characters used as a comment. All characters in 
+the <value> field shall be ignored by pax.
+
+gid
+    The group ID of the group that owns the file, expressed as a 
+decimal number using digits from the ISO/IEC 646:1991 standard. 
+This record shall override the gid field in the following header 
+block(s). When used in write or copy mode, pax shall include a gid 
+extended header record for each file whose group ID is greater 
+than 2097151 (octal 7777777).
+
+gname
+    The group of the file(s), formatted as a group name in the 
+group database. This record shall override the gid and gname 
+fields in the following header block(s), and any gid extended 
+header record. When used in read, copy, or list mode, pax shall 
+translate the name from the UTF-8 encoding in the header record to 
+the character set appropriate for the group database on the 
+receiving system. If any of the UTF-8 characters cannot be 
+translated, and if the -o invalid= UTF-8 option is not specified, 
+the results are implementation-defined. When used in write or copy 
+mode, pax shall include a gname extended header record for each 
+file whose group name cannot be represented entirely with the 
+letters and digits of the portable character set.
+
+linkpath
+    The pathname of a link being created to another file, of any 
+type, previously archived. This record shall override the linkname 
+field in the following ustar header block(s). The following ustar 
+header block shall determine the type of link created. If typeflag 
+of the following header block is 1, it shall be a hard link. If 
+typeflag is 2, it shall be a symbolic link and the linkpath value 
+shall be the contents of the symbolic link. The pax utility shall 
+translate the name of the link (contents of the symbolic link) 
+from the UTF-8 encoding to the character set appropriate for the 
+local file system. When used in write or copy mode, pax shall 
+include a linkpath extended header record for each link whose 
+pathname cannot be represented entirely with the members of the 
+portable character set other than NUL.
+
+mtime
+    The file modification time of the following file(s), 
+equivalent to the value of the st_mtime member of the stat 
+structure for a file, as described in the stat() function. This 
+record shall override the mtime field in the following header 
+block(s). The modification time shall be restored if the process 
+has the appropriate privilege required to do so. The format of the 
+<value> shall be as described in pax Extended Header File Times.
+
+path
+    The pathname of the following file(s). This record shall 
+override the name and prefix fields in the following header 
+block(s). The pax utility shall translate the pathname of the file 
+from the UTF-8 encoding to the character set appropriate for the 
+local file system.
+
+    When used in write or copy mode, pax shall include a path 
+extended header record for each file whose pathname cannot be 
+represented entirely with the members of the portable character 
+set other than NUL.
+
+realtime.any
+    The keywords prefixed by "realtime." are reserved for future 
+standardization.
+
+security.any
+    The keywords prefixed by "security." are reserved for future 
+standardization.
+
+size
+    The size of the file in octets, expressed as a decimal number 
+using digits from the ISO/IEC 646:1991 standard. This record shall 
+override the size field in the following header block(s). When 
+used in write or copy mode, pax shall include a size extended 
+header record for each file with a size value greater than 
+8589934591 (octal 77777777777).
+
+uid
+    The user ID of the file owner, expressed as a decimal number 
+using digits from the ISO/IEC 646:1991 standard. This record shall 
+override the uid field in the following header block(s). When used 
+in write or copy mode, pax shall include a uid extended header 
+record for each file whose owner ID is greater than 2097151 (octal 
+7777777).
+
+uname
+    The owner of the following file(s), formatted as a user name 
+in the user database. This record shall override the uid and uname 
+fields in the following header block(s), and any uid extended 
+header record. When used in read, copy, or list mode, pax shall 
+translate the name from the UTF-8 encoding in the header record to 
+the character set appropriate for the user database on the 
+receiving system. If any of the UTF-8 characters cannot be 
+translated, and if the -o invalid= UTF-8 option is not specified, 
+the results are implementation-defined. When used in write or copy 
+mode, pax shall include a uname extended header record for each 
+file whose user name cannot be represented entirely with the 
+letters and digits of the portable character set.
+
+If the <value> field is zero length, it shall delete any header 
+block field, previously entered extended header value, or global 
+extended header value of the same name.
+
+If a keyword in an extended header record (or in a -o 
+option-argument) overrides or deletes a corresponding field in the 
+ustar header block, pax shall ignore the contents of that header 
+block field.
+
+Unlike the ustar header block fields, NULs shall not delimit 
+<value>s; all characters within the <value> field shall be 
+considered data for the field. None of the length limitations of 
+the ustar header block fields in ustar Header Block shall apply to 
+the extended header records.
+
+pax Extended Header File Times
+
+Time records shall be formatted as a decimal representation of the 
+time in seconds since the Epoch. If a period ( '.' ) decimal point 
+character is present, the digits to the right of the point shall 
+represent the units of a subsecond timing granularity. In read or 
+copy mode, the pax utility shall truncate the time of a file to 
+the greatest value that is not greater than the input header 
+file time. In write or copy mode, the pax utility shall output a 
+time exactly if it can be represented exactly as a decimal number, 
+and otherwise shall generate only enough digits so that the same 
+time shall be recovered if the file is extracted on a system whose 
+underlying implementation supports the same time granularity.
+
+Example from Linux kernel archive tarball:
+
+00000000  70 61 78 5f 67 6c 6f 62  61 6c 5f 68 65 61 64 65  |pax_global_heade|
+00000010  72 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |r...............|
+00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000030  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000060  00 00 00 00 30 30 30 30  36 36 36 00 30 30 30 30  |....0000666.0000|
+00000070  30 30 30 00 30 30 30 30  30 30 30 00 30 30 30 30  |000.0000000.0000|
+00000080  30 30 30 30 30 36 34 00  30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  |0000064.00000000|
+00000090  30 30 30 00 30 30 31 34  30 35 33 00 67 00 00 00  |000.0014053.g...|
+000000a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000000b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000000c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000000d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000000e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000000f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000100  00 75 73 74 61 72 00 30  30 67 69 74 00 00 00 00  |.ustar.00git....|
+00000110  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000120  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 67 69 74 00 00 00 00  |.........git....|
+00000130  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000140  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  |.........0000000|
+00000150  00 30 30 30 30 30 30 30  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |.0000000........|
+00000160  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000180  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000190  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001b0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+00000200  35 32 20 63 6f 6d 6d 65  6e 74 3d 62 31 30 35 30  |52 comment=b1050|
+00000210  32 62 32 32 61 31 32 30  39 64 36 62 34 37 36 33  |2b22a1209d6b4763|
+00000220  39 64 38 38 62 38 31 32  62 32 31 66 62 35 39 34  |9d88b812b21fb594|
+00000230  39 65 34 0a 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |9e4.............|
+00000240  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
+...