Backups under Linux

Although standard Linux distributions don't supply specials backup utilities, Linux does come with the GNU version of tar. This version offers some additional functionalities not found in the standard tar command. In general, tapes written with GNU tar can be read by other tar programs and vice versa. However, if the tape with written with extensions or functions only supplied by GNU tar it may not be readable by other tar versions. Notably, GNU tar supports a number of archive extensions. For optional information on these extensions see GNU Extensions to the Archive Format.

The HP-UX and SunOS versions of tar will not read archives made with the GNU version of tar. GNU tar uses unsigned checksums when creating archives but HP-UX and SunOS tar programs use signed checksums.

For further optional information on GNU tar see GNU tar: an archiver tool.