[comp.unix.xenix.sco] Error message: tar: could not stat /some/valid/file

bill@twg.bc.ca (Bill Irwin) (01/13/91)

I  have  seen  this error before, which usually  means  the  file
you're  trying  to  archive doesn't exit.  I am  getting  several
messages  that  complain about valid files, as well as one  about
not being able to chdir.

The  archive  is  run from a script which directs  the  error  to
a file, as follows:

if tar 8cvekF 58000 /tmp/Master.list 2>$ErrorLog

Since  this is a large archive on a 60Mb tape I am prompted twice
to insert the next volume.  I find it strange that this prompting
message  is sent to the standard error (and thus to the error log
file)  rather than the standard output, but when I see the  light
go  out on the tape and the list of files stops scrolling I  know
it's time to put in another tape.

tar: could not stat usr/lib/mvw/sk.*
tar: cannot chdir to usr2/mcba_4.1/??4src

There  are several directories ending in "4src", so I don't  know
why tar couldn't go there.  Does anyone know what would cause the
"stat" error, with a file that exists?  The archive is run logged
on as root.  The O/S is SCO XENIX V/386 2.3.2, with the kernel at
2.3.3.

Thanks for any help.
-- 
Bill Irwin    -       The Westrheim Group     -    Vancouver, BC, Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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mike (Michael Stefanik) (01/14/91)

In article <459@twg.bc.ca> twg.bc.ca!bill (Bill Irwin) writes:
>Since  this is a large archive on a 60Mb tape I am prompted twice
>to insert the next volume.  I find it strange that this prompting
>message  is sent to the standard error (and thus to the error log
>file)  rather than the standard output [...]

The reason that tar writes to standard error is that you could just
as easily do:

	tar cvfF - /tmp/Master.list | dd of=/dev/rmt0 bs=512k

If tar displayed it's messages on stdout, then in this case the tape
archive would get hosed ...

-- 
Michael Stefanik, Systems Engineer (JOAT), Briareus Corporation
UUCP: ...!uunet!bria!mike
--
technoignorami (tek'no-ig'no-ram`i) a group of individuals that are constantly
found to be saying things like "Well, it works on my DOS machine ..."