Backups - tar exit status

Tar is a great backup utility - except that it has only 2 exit statuses - 0
or 1, which isn't useful. Suppose you just get a warning - which sets the
exit status to 1 - the backup is still fine. A catastrophic tape error
leaving the backup useless still exits with 1, so what do people do about
monitoring scripts to ensure success? PLEASE don't suggest another
utility, unless its cpio (anyone know about the exit statuses of cpio?). I
want to use tar because its free, scriptable, standard, etc.

Thanks
Graham Nicholls
--
The answer's always "Yes".
Now, what was the question?


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Graham Nicholls wrote:

> Tar is a great backup utility - except that it has only 2 exit statuses -
> 0
> or 1, which isn't useful. Suppose you just get a warning - which sets the
> exit status to 1 - the backup is still fine. A catastrophic tape error
> leaving the backup useless still exits with 1, so what do people do about
> monitoring scripts to ensure success? PLEASE don't suggest another
> utility, unless its cpio (anyone know about the exit statuses of cpio?).
> I want to use tar because its free, scriptable, standard, etc.
>
> Thanks
> Graham Nicholls

What warnings do you get? You should strive to make your operations warning
free.
Eric