add files to compressed tar-archive

[mister_v]

Does anyone know how to add files to an existing compressed tar-file?

[chris]

Short answer you can't:

Code: Select all

tar: Cannot update compressed archives

You can however update/add files to normal tar-files.

Code: Select all

tar -uvf file.tar addfile.pdf

So there are 2 options.
you can extract everything from the compressed tar-file
and then re-add everything, including the new file.

Or, and perhaps better.
first compress the file and then add to the tar-archive.

Code: Select all

gzip -c $FILE > $COMPRESSED.gz;
tar -uvf $NEWARCHIVE $COMPRESSED.gz;

[mister_v]

Not really what I was looking for,
but it works.

So thanks