Cleanly extract many archive types
dtrx [OPTIONS] ARCHIVE [ARCHIVE ...]
dtrx extracts archives in a number of different formats; it currently supports tar, zip (including self-extracting .exe files), cpio, rpm, deb, gem, 7z, cab, rar, and InstallShield files. It can also decompress files compressed with gzip, bzip2, lzma, or compress.
In addition to providing one command to handle many different archive types, dtrx also aids the user by extracting contents consistently. By default, everything will be written to a dedicated directory that's named after the archive. dtrx will also change the permissions to ensure that the owner can read and write all those files.
To run dtrx, simply call it with the archive(s) you wish to extract as arguments. For example:
$ dtrx coreutils-5.*.tar.gz
dtrx supports a number of options to mandate specific behavior:
-r, --recursive
With this option, dtrx will search inside the archives you specify to see if any of the contents are themselves archives, and extract those as well.
--one, --one-entry
Normally, if an archive only contains one file or directory with a name that doesn't match the archive's, dtrx will ask you how to handle it. With this option, you can specify ahead of time what should happen. Possible values are:
inside
Extract the file/directory inside another directory named after the archive. This is the default.
rename
Extract the file/directory in the current directory, and then rename it to match the name of the archive.
here
Extract the file/directory in the current directory.
-o, --overwrite
Normally, dtrx will avoid extracting into a directory that already exists, and instead try to find an alternative name to use. If this option is listed, dtrx will use the default directory name no matter what.
-f, --flat
Extract all archive contents into the current directory, instead of their own dedicated directory. This is handy if you have multiple archive files which all need to be extracted into the same directory structure. Note that existing files may be overwritten with this option.
-n, --noninteractive
dtrx will normally ask the user how to handle certain corner cases, such as how to handle an archive that only contains one file. This option suppresses those questions; dtrx will instead use sane, conservative defaults.
-l, -t, --list, --table
Don't extract the archives; just list their contents on standard output.
-m, --metadata
Extract the metadata from .deb and .gem archives, instead of their normal contents.
-q, --quiet
Suppress warning messages. Listing this option twice will cause dtrx to be silent.
-v, --verbose
Show the files that are being extracted. Listing this option twice will cause dtrx to print debugging information.
--help
Display basic help.
--version
Display dtrx's version, copyright, and license information.
Brett Smith <[email protected]>
dtrx 6.5 is copyright © 2006-2009 Brett Smith and others. Feel free to send comments, bug reports, patches, and so on. You can find the latest version of dtrx on its home page at <http://www.brettcsmith.org/2007/dtrx/>.
dtrx is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.