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SYS-C0036 · Linux Command Builders

tar Command Examples

List an archive before you extract it, and do not unpack it onto /. tar Command Examples.

Updated 25 October 2026 · Cheat Sheet

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

tar and zip draft a create or a list. The builders do not unpack a file on a server. List the member names before an extract. An archive can contain paths that climb out of the directory. That is why you read the names.

Create an archive of a directory you named. Do not archive a home or a secret store because the command was short. Extract only into an empty directory you created, on a host you administer.

Do not extract an archive you do not trust. Do not overwrite a system directory. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Name the directory or the archive.
  2. Draft a list before any extract.
  3. Read the member names.
  4. Extract only into an empty directory, later.
  5. Do not run it during the reading.
  6. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the command

tar Command Examples goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for tar Command Examples: List comes before extract. The destination is an empty directory. The archive is one you trust. The host is yours. And nothing was run yet.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The archive or the directory is named. A list command is the draft. No extract onto / is present. Nothing was run. And member names are part of the later check. If one of those fails, stop.

# List before extract.
# Do not unpack onto /.
# Read the member names.

Before you leave the host

tar Command Examples ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.

This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.

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