Backup & Recovery (Rsync/Tar/Dd)
Keep your tar backups from nuking your path permissions
🧩 The Challenge
Everyone thinks tar just grabs files, but if you run it as root, it tries to restore the original ownership and permissions on extraction. I spent an entire afternoon wondering why my web server directory was suddenly owned by a UID that didn’t exist on the new box.
đź’ˇ The Fix
Use the flags that tell tar to ignore the metadata inside the archive and just use your current shell’s environment instead. It saves you from manual chown/chmod loops later.
tar --no-same-owner --no-same-permissions -xvf backup.tar.gz -C /target/directory/⚙️ Why It Works
By flipping these two flags, you tell the tool to discard the stored uid/gid and mode bits, forcing it to inherit the permissions of the directory you’re dropping the files into.
🚀 Pro-Tip: Always double-check where your extraction path actually points before you hit enter, or you might overwrite your own live config files.
Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 10/18/2026