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======Project: ARCHIVE HANDLING======

A project for CSCS1730 UNIX/Linux Fundamentals by Derek Girard3 during Fall 2011.

This project was begun on 10/24/11 and is anticipated to take 1 day. 

=====Objectives=====
To demonstrate familiarity with archiving and compression tools.

=====Prerequisites=====
In order to successfully accomplish/perform this project, the listed resources/experiences need to be consulted/achieved:

  * ability to use the command-line
  * familiarity with looking up information and documentation
  * understanding what files are

=====Background=====
This project is here to help me understand the compression and decompression of files. It can be also known as archiving, extracting data and putting them into a smaller more convenient  space for you to extract later on. You take the data as its original form and when you compress it you break it down into smaller bits. Its no longer usable to you until you decompress it into its original state. There are many types on archiving tools like zip and tar. They basically all do the similar function but have differences which makes them stand out.
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/shell-scripting/linux-archiving-techniques-6443


=====Scope=====
In **/var/public/unix/archives** are two files: **archive1.tar.gz** and **archive2.zip**

Your mission is to:

  * make a copy of them to your home directory
  * figure out how to properly extract each one
  * view the contents
  * create a new archive containing the contents of both extracted original archives
  * compress your new archive in bzip2 format
  * document the entire process to clearly demonstrate this (ie showing command-lines) on your project document

=====Attributes=====
State and justify the attributes you'd like to receive upon successful approval and completion of this project.

  * commands: using various archiving and compression commands
  * files & directories: understanding files and directories

=====Procedure=====
First i copied the two archives into my home directory(~):
<cli>
lab46:~$ cd /var/public/unix/archives
lab46:/var/public/unix/archives$ cp -a archive.tar.gz archive2.zip ~
cp: cannot stat `archive.tar.gz': No such file or directory
lab46:/var/public/unix/archives$ man cp
lab46:/var/public/unix/archives$ cp -a archive.tar.gz ~
cp: cannot stat `archive.tar.gz': No such file or directory
lab46:/var/public/unix/archives$ cp -a archive1.tar.gz ~
lab46:/var/public/unix/archives$ cd
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          bin         contact.info.save  hey   irc            program             scriptrgex.sh     temp.c
a.out            botopen     data               hi    killerwasp.sh  program.c           soaringeagle.sh   tmp
addscr.sh        candy       destructo.sh       hi.c  lab1a.text     pss                 soaringeagle1.sh  wildcards
archive1.tar.gz  closet      dl                 hi.s  motd           public_html         src
archive2.zip     cmdcprog.c  exper              in    newdirectory   regularexpressions  temp
lab46:~$
</cli>
I noticed that i messed up the first copy by miss spelling a word but it was interesting how it still copied one while the line had a incorrect statement, so in the end both were copied over.

next i extracted data from the archive1.tar.gz file.
<cli>
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          bin         contact.info.save  hey   irc            program             scriptrgex.sh     temp.c
a.out            botopen     data               hi    killerwasp.sh  program.c           soaringeagle.sh   tmp
addscr.sh        candy       destructo.sh       hi.c  lab1a.text     pss                 soaringeagle1.sh  wildcards
archive1.tar.gz  closet      dl                 hi.s  motd           public_html         src
archive2.zip     cmdcprog.c  exper              in    newdirectory   regularexpressions  temp
lab46:~$ man tar
lab46:~$ tar xvf archive1.tar.gz
archives/
archives/abc.txt
archives/filea
archives/fileb
archives/filec
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          archives  cmdcprog.c         exper  in             newdirectory  regularexpressions  temp
a.out            bin       contact.info.save  hey    irc            program       scriptrgex.sh       temp.c
addscr.sh        botopen   data               hi     killerwasp.sh  program.c     soaringeagle.sh     tmp
archive1.tar.gz  candy     destructo.sh       hi.c   lab1a.text     pss           soaringeagle1.sh    wildcards
archive2.zip     closet    dl                 hi.s   motd           public_html   src
lab46:~$ cd /archives
-bash: cd: /archives: No such file or directory
lab46:~$ cat archives/abc.txt
This is an example file for use in CT173.
lab46:~$ cat archives/filea
lab46:~$ cat archives/fileb
lab46:~$ cat archives/filec
lab46:~$ cat archives/
cat: archives/: Is a directory
lab46:~$ cd archive
-bash: cd: archive: No such file or directory
lab46:~$ cd archives
lab46:~/archives$ ls
abc.txt  filea  fileb  filec
lab46:~/archives$
</cli>

next i extracted data from the zip file "archive2":
<cli>
lab46:~$ unzip -j archive2
Archive:  archive2.zip
 extracting: filea
 extracting: filez
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          bin                data          hey   killerwasp.sh  pss                 src
a.out            botopen            destructo.sh  hi    lab1a.text     public_html         temp
addscr.sh        candy              dl            hi.c  motd           regularexpressions  temp.c
archive1.tar.gz  closet             exper         hi.s  newdirectory   scriptrgex.sh       tmp
archive2.zip     cmdcprog.c         filea         in    program        soaringeagle.sh     wildcards
archives         contact.info.save  filez         irc   program.c      soaringeagle1.sh
lab46:~$ cat filea
This contains text.
lab46:~$ cat filez
lab46:~$
</cli>

And here is where i create my new archive and compress it into a bzip2 archive:
<cli>
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          archivees  closet             dl     hi.s           motd          public_html         src
a.out            archives   cmdcprog.c         exper  in             newdirectory  regularexpressions  temp
addscr.sh        bin        contact.info.save  hey    irc            program       scriptrgex.sh       temp.c
archive1.tar.gz  botopen    data               hi     killerwasp.sh  program.c     soaringeagle.sh     tmp
archive2.zip     candy      destructo.sh       hi.c   lab1a.text     pss           soaringeagle1.sh    wildcards
lab46:~$ bunzip2 archives/filea
bunzip2: Can't open input file archives/filea: No such file or directory.
lab46:~$ bunzip2 archives/filea.bz2 archives/abc.txt.bz2 archives/fileb.bz2 archives/filec.bz2 archivees/filea.bz2 archivees/filez.bz2
lab46:~$ tar -cf archives/filea archives/abc.txt archives/fileb archives/filec archivees/filea archivees/filez
lab46:~$ ls
Maildir          archivees  closet             dl     hi.s           motd          public_html         src
a.out            archives   cmdcprog.c         exper  in             newdirectory  regularexpressions  temp
addscr.sh        bin        contact.info.save  hey    irc            program       scriptrgex.sh       temp.c
archive1.tar.gz  botopen    data               hi     killerwasp.sh  program.c     soaringeagle.sh     tmp
archive2.zip     candy      destructo.sh       hi.c   lab1a.text     pss           soaringeagle1.sh    wildcards
lab46:~$ cd archives
lab46:~/archives$ ls
abc.txt  filea  fileb  filec
lab46:~/archives$ cd
lab46:~$ tar -cf Harchives.tar archives/filea archives/abc.txt archives/fileb archives/filec archivees/filea archivees/filez
lab46:~$ bzip2 Harchives.tar
lab46:~$ ls
Harchives.tar.bz2  archivees  cmdcprog.c         hey   killerwasp.sh  pss                 src
Maildir            archives   contact.info.save  hi    lab1a.text     public_html         temp
a.out              bin        data               hi.c  motd           regularexpressions  temp.c
addscr.sh          botopen    destructo.sh       hi.s  newdirectory   scriptrgex.sh       tmp
archive1.tar.gz    candy      dl                 in    program        soaringeagle.sh     wildcards
archive2.zip       closet     exper              irc   program.c      soaringeagle1.sh
lab46:~$
</cli>
I made a Harchives file in a tar file containing all the contents of the 2 archives i extracted the information from, then i compressed into a bzip2 file and walah!
=====Reflection=====
I found this project to be easier than expected, i ran into a few problems but it didnt take me long to figure anything out. I have learned how to archive and compress now and i believe this can help greatly with future projects that i will encounter. This was actually a fun project i will not lie :)
=====References=====
In performing this project, the following resources were referenced:

  * http://www.techiecorner.com/1423/how-to-extract-bz2-file-in-linux/
  * http://google.com (I searched up things that could easily be found on man pages i just didnt know)
  * http://lowfatlinux.com/linux-tar.html
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