Which Flag Prevents Tar From Dereferencing Symbolic Links

This article provides a concise answer regarding the tar command utility within the Ubuntu Linux operating system, specifically focusing on how to handle symbolic links during archive creation. It outlines the exact flag required to ensure that symbolic links are preserved as links rather than being replaced by the files they reference, helping users maintain accurate directory structures in their backups.

The specific flag that prevents tar from dereferencing symbolic links is --no-dereference. When you run the tar command on Ubuntu, using this option ensures that the archive stores the symbolic link itself instead of copying the target file’s data. This is critical when you need to preserve the exact structure of a filesystem without inflating the archive size with duplicate data from linked files.

To use this flag, include it in your command string before specifying the file or directory you wish to archive. For example, the command tar --no-dereference -cvf backup.tar /home/user/data will create an archive named backup.tar while keeping all symbolic links intact. It is important to note that GNU tar, which is the default version on Ubuntu, does not dereference links by default unless the -h or --dereference flag is explicitly used. However, adding --no-dereference makes your intention explicit and ensures consistent behavior across different scripts or configurations.