Both tar and rsync can be used to archive and preserve SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs when backing up or transferring files on a Linux system. Here’s how you can use each utility:
tar: To preserve SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs when usingtar, you can use the-poption, which preserves the file permissions, as well as other metadata. For example:
tar -cvpf archive.tar /path/to/directory
This creates a tar archive of the specified directory, preserving all file permissions, SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs.
rsync: To preserve SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs when usingrsync, you can use the-aoption, which stands for “archive” and preserves metadata such as file permissions, ownership, timestamps, and symbolic links. Additionally, the-Xoption can be used to preserve extended attributes, and the-Aoption can be used to preserve ACLs. For example:
rsync -avAX /path/to/directory destination
This synchronizes the specified directory with the destination, preserving all file metadata, SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs.
Note: To ensure that SELinux contexts, extended attributes, and ACLs are preserved correctly, you may need to run the backup or transfer as the root user or a user with sufficient privileges.