The GNOME File Roller
The GNOME desktop file archiving graphical application File Roller (file-
roller) views, extracts, and creates archive files using tar, gzip, bzip,
compress, zip, rar, lha, and several other compression formats. Note
that File Roller is only a front end to the command-line utilities that actually
provide these compression formats; if a format is not installed, File Roller
cannot use that format.
CAUTION
File Roller does not complain if you select a compression format that is not
supported by installed software until after you attempt to create the archive.
So be sure to install any needed compression utilities before you use File
Roller.File Roller is well integrated with the GNOME desktop environment to
provide convenient drag-and-drop functionality with the Nautilus file
manager. To create a new archive, select Archive, New to open the New
Archive dialog box and navigate to the directory where you want the archive
to be kept. Type your archive’s name in the Selection: /root text box at the
bottom of the New Archive dialog box. Use the Archive Type drop-down
menu to select a compression method. Then drag the files that you want to be
included from Nautilus into the empty space of the File Roller window, and
the animated icons show that files are being included in the new archive.
When you have finished, a list of files appears in the previously blank File
Roller window. To save the archive, select Archive, Close. Opening an
archive is as easy as using the Archive, Open dialog to select the appropriate
archive file. You can learn more at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/File%20Roller.
The KDE ark Archiving Tool
Ubuntu also offers the KDE ark and kdat GUI tools for backups; they are
installed only if you select the KDE desktop during installation, but you can
search through Synaptic to find them. Archiving has traditionally been a
function of system administrator and not seen as a task for individual users, so
no elaborate GUI was believed necessary. Backing up has also been seen as a
script-driven, automated task in which a GUI is not as useful. Although that’s
true for system administrators, home users usually want something a little
more attractive and easier to use, and that’s the gap ark was created to fill.
You launch ark by launching it from the command line. It is integrated with