Solaris 10 5/08 Installation Guide: Solaris Flash Archives (Creation and Installation)

Splitting a Solaris Flash Archive

You can split an archive into sections, which enables you to modify some sections, add new sections, or delete sections. After you have modified the sections, you need to merge the sections to create an new archive. For example, you might want to add a user-defined section or modify the archive identification section. Do not modify the Archive Files section or you compromise the integrity of the archive.

The flar split command splits a Solaris Flash archive into sections. The flar command copies each section into a separate file in the current directory or specified directory. The files are named after the sections, for example, the archive cookie is saved in a file that is named cookie. You can specify that the flar split command save only one section. The syntax of the command is as follows:

flar split [-d dir] [-u section] [-f archive] [-S section] [-t [-p posn] [-b blocksize]] filename

`-d` `dir`	Retrieves the sections to copy from `dir`, rather than from the current directory.
`-u` `section`	If you use this option, `flar` copies the cookie, identification, archive, and `section` sections. You can specify a single section name or a space-separated list of section names. If you do not use this option, `flar` copies the cookie, identification, and archive sections only.
`-f` archive	Extracts the archive section into a directory that is named `archive`, rather than placing it in a file with the name `archive`.
`-S` `section`	Only copies the section that is named `section` from the archive. This section is user defined.

Example 4–1 Splitting an Archive

In the following example, archive1.flar is split into three files:

cookie – The first line of the archive, which identifies the version of the archive format. Do not change this identifier.
identification – A copy of the archive identification section with all keyword-value pairs.
archive – The archive itself. This file can be compressed.

# flar split archive1.flar

After the archive is split, you can modify the archive identification section or add a user-defined section. The sections can then be merged to re-create the archive.