Untangle the Tarball

What is tar?

The tar command in Linux is used for archiving multiple files into a single file known as a tarball. The tarball format is commonly used for distributing and backing up files. While tar itself does not compress files, it can be combined with compression tools like gzip to create compressed archives.

The tar command, short for "tape archive," has been a staple of Unix-based operating systems since the early days of computing. It was originally designed for writing data to sequential I/O devices, such as tape drives. Today, tar is widely used for creating backups, distributing software packages, and combining multiple files into a single, manageable file.

What is a Tarball?

A tarball is a single file that contains multiple files and directories archived together. The file typically has a .tar extension. When compressed, it may have extensions like .tar.gz or .tar.bz2, indicating the compression method used.

How to Create a Tarball:

To create a tarball, you use the tar command with the -cvf options:

tar -cfz archive_name.tar file(s)

• -c: Create a new archive
• -f: Specify the name of the archive file
• -z: Compress the archive using gzip

The Challenge:

We have created a tarball named flag.tar.gz containing several files. Your mission is to extract the contents of this tarball and find the hidden flag.

hint: the option -x is used for extraction. use man tar for more details