.TH VAULT-ABSORB 1 "October 2026" "vault" "User Commands" .SH NAME vault-absorb \- add the files in a tar archive to an encrypted vault .SH SYNOPSIS .B vault absorb .RB [ \-\-key .IR PATH ] .RB [ \-\-vault .IR DIR ] .RI [ FOLDER ] .B < .I ARCHIVE .SH DESCRIPTION .B vault absorb reads a tar archive from standard input and stores every regular file in it, beneath .I FOLDER if one is given, keeping the paths, permissions and modification times recorded in the archive. A gzip-compressed archive is detected and unpacked automatically. .PP Each file is encrypted straight from the stream; nothing is unpacked to disk. Anything already stored under the same name is replaced. .PP Directory entries are not stored (directories exist implicitly). Symbolic and hard links, devices and other special entries are reported on standard error and skipped, as is any entry whose name would escape .I FOLDER through .BR .. . A leading .B ./ or .B / is dropped. .PP The passphrase prompt reads from the terminal, not standard input, so it still works with an archive piped in. The vault is locked exclusively for the whole run. .SH OPTIONS .TP .BI \-\-key " PATH" Key file. Default: $VAULT_KEY, else ~/.vault/key. .TP .BI \-\-vault " DIR" Vault directory. Default: $VAULT_DIR, else ~/.vault/store. .SH ENVIRONMENT .TP .B VAULT_PASSPHRASE Passphrase, instead of prompting on the terminal. .SH EXIT STATUS 0 if at least one file was stored and the archive was read to the end. 1 if the archive is malformed or ends early, holds no regular files, or anything fails; files stored before the failure stay in the vault. .SH EXAMPLES Unpack an existing archive into the vault under .BR backup/ : .PP .RS vault absorb backup < photos.tar.gz .RE .PP Store a directory under .BR backup/photos/ : .PP .RS tar \-cz photos | vault absorb backup .RE .PP Pull a remote directory straight into the vault: .PP .RS ssh server 'tar \-C /etc \-c .' | vault absorb server1/etc .RE .SH SEE ALSO .BR vault (1), .BR vault\-add (1), .BR tar (1) .SH AUTHOR Andy Dixon , https://www.dixon.cx