E. Genfile

This appendix describes genfile, an auxiliary program used in the GNU tar testsuite. If you are not interested in developing GNU tar, skip this appendix.

Initially, genfile was used to generate data files for the testsuite, hence its name. However, new operation modes were being implemented as the testsuite grew more sophisticated, and now genfile is a multi-purpose instrument.

There are three basic operation modes:

File Generation

This is the default mode. In this mode, genfile generates data files.

File Status

In this mode genfile displays status of specified files.

Synchronous Execution.

In this mode genfile executes the given program with ‘--checkpoint’ option and executes a set of actions when specified checkpoints are reached.