Unable to gunzip a tar.gz file on Solaris 10 5/07 as guest OS on VMware.

okonita · 03-01-2009, 11:57 AM

Hi all,

I am a little mystified here. I have Solaris 10 (5/07) on VMware as a guest OS. I am having trouble extracting from a VMware Tools tar.gz file. The command that I am using is gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz | xf-

and I am getting this error:

tar: tarfile must be specified with 'f' function modified

Is the untar syntax different in Solrais that it is in Linux? Because this same command works just fine on a Linux OS.

What is the correct syntax for Solaris?

Thanks very much for any help I can get.

Okonita

bathory · 03-01-2009, 04:17 PM

Quote:

gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz | xf-

I guess it's a typo that you missed the tar command after the pipe. Also the dash "use stdout" must be separate from the tar options. Thus, you should try:

Code:

gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz |tar xf -

Infasoft · 03-01-2009, 09:15 PM

That hapened to me a lot. just try:

Code:

gzip -dc <path_to_file> | tar xvf -

jlliagre · 03-02-2009, 02:12 AM

or simply (with /usr/sfw/bin/ in your PATH if required):

Code:

gtar xzvf /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz

okonita · 03-02-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infasoft

That hapened to me a lot. just try:

Code:

gzip -dc <path_to_file> | tar xvf -

Thanks guys! I'll try that shortly and hope it works for me...this is driving me nuts...

okonita · 03-02-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlliagre

or simply (with /usr/sfw/bin/ in your PATH if required):

Code:

gtar xzvf /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz

How would you code this?
/usr/sfw/bin/gtar xzvf?

jlliagre · 03-02-2009, 03:12 PM

Yes if your PATH is missing /usr/sfw/bin. Not necessary on Solaris Express as gtar is in /usr/bin.

okonita · 03-02-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Infasoft

That hapened to me a lot. just try:

Code:

gzip -dc <path_to_file> | tar xvf -

Infasoft, This is to report that gzip -dc <path_to_file> | tar xvf -
is the one that appears to be working - decompressing as I write...

Thanks guys...you are a savior!

jlliagre · 03-02-2009, 03:27 PM

If for some reason, you do not want to use gtar and if you have trouble remembering gzip / gunzip options, you can still run:

Code:

gunzip < path_to_file | tar xvf -