Usage:

The menu is set up as File | Archive | Settings | Help

To Quit, type Ctrl-q or File->Quit


Many actions in KDar need an archive loaded to work. Select
"File->Open archive" to load an archive. If you selected an archive
with ".*.dar" on the end, select OK when kdar asks if you want to replace
the archive name with one that doesn't have the extension.

If you have no archives, you can create one.

Creating archives:

To create an archive, select Archive->Create (at bottom of menu)
Then click the "..." button to the right of the root directory line, 
and choose the directory that you want to backup. 

If you selected a directory to backup, the basename line becomes active.
Choose an appropriate name for your archive. I usually put the root name, 
and a hyphen, and the date (e.g. "031018"). You only need a basename here,
not the entire archive name ("test-archive", not "test-archive.1.dar"), 
so if you are overwriting an existing archive, remove any ".*.dar" 
trailing stuff.

Now you can select directory filters.
Click on the file filters tab (bottom of create dialog), and select
 "new" to add a filter if you want to backup specific directories,
or exclude specific directories. For example, if you're backing up
the entire filesystem, you've chosen "/" for the root directory, 
and "/opt/backups/system-full-backup-031018" for the basename of
the archive. You have to "exclude" the backup directory, so add it
to the list of file filters. You also want to exclude "/dev/pts"
and "/proc", so add them too.

On to the compression filters, select the compression filters tab,
and select "new". You can choose to exclude or include specific types
of files to be compressed. You can also choose to have "all of the above"
file types to be excluded from compression. You can add your own file type,
as the filter value is editable.

When you're satisfied that everything is okay, click OK. Your archive should
be created.

Viewing archives:

Select Archive->View. Select the archive name. If you selected an archive
with ".*.dar" on the end, select OK when kdar asks if you want to replace
the archive name with one that doesn't have the extension.

Extracting archives:

Archive->Extract, then choose a directory to extract your archive into.

Settings:
Settings->Configure KDar 

Select the settings according to your wishes. See the "dar" manpage for 
details.

JKB031209
