tar (on Windows) a list of files in c#

Question

I then to tar and then gzip a list of files in C#.

I need some help with how to set the arguments to tar.

Say I have tar.exe in a folder c:\tar\tar.exe and a method like the following:

    private void RunTar(string outputFileName, List<string> fileNamePaths)
    {
        using (Process p = new Process())
        {
            p.StartInfo.FileName = @"c:\tar\tar.exe";
            p.StartInfo.Arguments = //;
            p.Start();
            p.WaitForExit();
        }
    }

Note: the fileNamePathsToTar list has the full unc filename paths and the files can be in different folders.

Can anyone please help with what arguments to supply.

Also I notice in the documentation:

-z, --gzip, --ungzip
          filter the archive through gzip

   -Z, --compress, --uncompress
          filter the archive through compress

   --use-compress-program=PROG
          filter through PROG (must accept -d)

Not sure how to use this but if I place the gzip.exe in the same folder as tar.exe can I perform my tar and then gzip of these files all in one step?

Update

I can only seem to get tar to work on files in the same directory as tar.exe if I try a full path name I get something like:

    C:\Tar Test>tar -cf out.tar c:/Tar Test/Text/t1.txt
tar: Cannot add file c:/Tar: No such file or directory
tar: Cannot add file Test/Text/t1.txt: No such file or directory
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

I've tried with the slashes both ways \ or / and with quotes around the full path no joy.

Thanks

Answer 1

to create an archive and gzip it, you should use czf as arguments, so

p.StartInfo.Arguments = "czf";

or

p.StartInfo.Arguments = "-czf";

depending on tar version.

to avoid gzipping, remove the 'z' from the arguments.

ah, and you'd better tar an entire folder, like put all your file in a folder named, e.g., myfolder and tar that folder, not it's content.

Answer 2

FYI, there's a managed tar library with full source available at http://cheeso.members.winisp.net/srcview.aspx?dir=Tar&file=Tar.cs

There's a makefile to allow you to build Tar.dll or Tar.exe. There's also a sample app in VB.