Reboot with "backup" causes error if .filetool.lst is empty - but it shouldn't?

[Jason W]

I agree with tetonca in that it is the user's responsibility to keep their own backups or archived copies of mydata.tgz.  If the system was to create a mydata.tgz~ backup of the backup, that would punish those who keep a rather large backup on a small partition as twice the disk space would be required.

And I get no error when I have an empty .filetool.lst and .xfiletool.lst and make a backup.  So it appears you can empty your filetool files and make a backup if that is what you are wanting to do.

[^thehatsrule^]

Perhaps having it as an option might be the direction to go if it's really wanted.

[baz]

And I get no error when I have an empty .filetool.lst and .xfiletool.lst and make a backup.

Jason W what version are you using? I get "tar: empty archive"

[^thehatsrule^]

IIRC, the gnu version allows empty archives while the busybox one does not (at least with the config used).

[maro]

Here is the "proof" (BusyBox tar fails for empty -T file, whilst GNU tar is OK with it)

Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ cd /tmp
tc@box:/tmp$ tar --version | grep tar
tar (GNU tar) 1.22
tc@box:/tmp$ mkdir f && date > f/file && echo f > tar-f && touch tar-e
tc@box:/tmp$ ls -l *tar*
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff           0 Jan 12 20:16 tar-e
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff           2 Jan 12 20:16 tar-f
tc@box:/tmp$ tar cvf tg-f.tar -T tar-f ; echo $?
f/
f/file
0
tc@box:/tmp$ tar cvf tg-e.tar -T tar-e ; echo $?
0
tc@box:/tmp$ busybox tar cvf tb-f.tar -T tar-f ; echo $?
f/
f/file
0
tc@box:/tmp$ busybox tar cvf tb-e.tar -T tar-e ; echo $?
tar: empty archive
1
tc@box:/tmp$ ls -l *tar*
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff           0 Jan 12 20:16 tar-e
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff           2 Jan 12 20:16 tar-f
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff        2560 Jan 12 20:17 tb-f.tar
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff       10240 Jan 12 20:17 tg-e.tar
-rw-r--r--    1 tc       staff       10240 Jan 12 20:17 tg-f.tar


[Jason W]

I evidently forgot to use the "busybox tar" command.