ptar

PLAKAR-PTAR(1) - General Commands Manual

NAME

plakar ptar - generate a self-contained Kloset archive (.ptar)

SYNOPSIS

plakar ptar [-plaintext] [-overwrite] [-k location] -o file.ptar [path …]

DESCRIPTION

The plakar ptar command creates a single portable archive (a ‘.ptar’ file) that bundles one or more existing Plakar repositories (“klosets”) and/or arbitrary filesystem paths into a self-contained package. The resulting archive preserves repository metadata, snapshots and data chunks, and is compressed and encrypted for secure transport or off-site storage.

At least one data source must be supplied: either one or more -k or -kloset options naming remote or local kloset repositories, and/or one or more path arguments identifying files or directories to back up. The destination archive name is mandatory and supplied with -o.

Unless the -overwrite flag is given, plakar ptar refuses to replace an existing archive.

The options are as follows:

-plaintext

Disable transparent encryption of the archive. If omitted, plakar ptar encrypts repository data using a key derived from the passphrase specified via PLAKAR_PASSPHRASE or prompted interactively.

-overwrite

Overwrite an existing .ptar file at the destination path.

-k location, -kloset location

Add a kloset repository to include in the archive. May be specified multiple times to bundle several repositories.

-o file.ptar

Path of the archive to create. This option is required.

path …

Zero or more filesystem paths to back up directly into the archive.

ENVIRONMENT

PLAKAR_PASSPHRASE

Passphrase used to derive the encryption key when encryption is enabled.

DIAGNOSTICS

The plakar ptar utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

Command completed successfully.

An error occurred (invalid arguments, existing archive without -overwrite, hashing algorithm unknown, repository access failure, I/O errors, etc.).