Python script using tar from a list returns error: has no attribute 'startswith'

linux1103 · 04-04-2011, 01:51 PM

Is there a way to create a tar file from a list?
My script returns the error: AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'startswith'

I want to create a compressed tar file containing the directory /usr/lib and the files in the list assigned to variable b.

code:

import tarfile
tar = tarfile.open("backup.gz", "w:gz")
for name in ["/usr/lib", b]:
tar.add(name)
tar.close()

I get the error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<console>", line 2, in <module>
File "/opt/moe25/usr/lib/python2.5/tarfile.py", line 1443, in add
if self.name is not None and os.path.abspath(name) == self.name:
File "/opt/moe25/usr/lib/python2.5/posixpath.py", line 402, in abspath
if not isabs(path):
File "/opt/moe25/usr/lib/python2.5/posixpath.py", line 49, in isabs
return s.startswith('/')
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'startswith'

flakblas · 04-04-2011, 03:06 PM

How are you defining b? Can you paste in the whole script and put it in CODE tags?

linux1103 · 04-05-2011, 12:10 AM

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env python-mpx
import sys, os, select
import paramiko
import tarfile
import time

for i in os.walk('/'):
	for j in i[2]:
		if j.endswith('.pyc'):
			base = os.path.abspath(i[0])
			f = open('/tmp/paths', 'a')
			f.write("%s\%s "%(base, j))
			f.close()
			f = open('/tmp/paths', 'r+')
			x = f.read()
			x.rstrip()
			y = x.rstrip()
			a = y.replace('\\','/')
			b = a.split(' ')
			
			
def reset(tarinfo):
	tarinfo.uid = tarinfo.gid = 0
	tarinfo.uname = tarinfo.gname = "root"
	return tarinfo
	tar = tarfile.open("backup.tar.gz", "w:gz")
	for name in ["usr/lib", b]:
		tar.add(name)
	tar.close()

flakblas · 04-05-2011, 07:17 PM

Ok well I'm not 100% sure of Python syntax but it appears as though the b variable is in a scope that's not accessible by the rest of the program. Try declaring b in the main scope. For instance you could do this (or something similar since I may have the exact Python syntax wrong.)

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env python-mpx
import sys, os, select
import paramiko
import tarfile
import time

b = []  # <---Here's the new declaration.

for i in os.walk('/'):
	for j in i[2]:
		if j.endswith('.pyc'):
			base = os.path.abspath(i[0])
			f = open('/tmp/paths', 'a')
			f.write("%s\%s "%(base, j))
			f.close()
			f = open('/tmp/paths', 'r+')
			x = f.read()
			x.rstrip()
			y = x.rstrip()
			a = y.replace('\\','/')
			b = a.split(' ')
			
			
def reset(tarinfo):
	tarinfo.uid = tarinfo.gid = 0
	tarinfo.uname = tarinfo.gname = "root"
	return tarinfo
	tar = tarfile.open("backup.tar.gz", "w:gz")
	for name in ["usr/lib", b]:
		tar.add(name)
	tar.close()