--- mysqlhotcopy.4.1.13	2006-01-02 21:42:42.688358407 -0800
+++ /usr/bin/mysqlhotcopy	2005-12-01 09:33:56.000000000 -0800
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
   --addtodest          don\'t rename target dir if it exists, just add files to it
   --keepold            don\'t delete previous (now renamed) target when done
   --noindices          don\'t include full index files in copy
-  --method=#           method for copy (only "cp" currently supported)
+  --method=#           method for copy ("cp" and "tar" are currently supported)
 
   -q, --quiet          be silent except for errors
   --debug              enable debug
@@ -366,6 +366,12 @@
 	    $rdb->{target} = "$tgt_dirname/$rdb->{src}";
 	}
     }
+    elsif ($opt{method} =~ /^tar\b/) 
+    {   
+	foreach my $rdb ( @db_desc ) {
+	    $rdb->{target} = "$tgt_dirname";
+	}
+    }
     else
     {
       die "Last argument ($tgt_dirname) is not a directory\n"
@@ -421,6 +427,11 @@
 	    ## assume it's there?
 	    ## ...
 	}
+	elsif ($opt{method} =~ /^tar\b/) {
+	    my $tar_dirpath = "$rdb->{target}";
+	    mkdir($tar_dirpath, 0750) or die "Can't create '$tar_dirpath': $!\n"
+		unless -d $tar_dirpath;
+	}
 	else {
 	    mkdir($tgt_dirpath, 0750) or die "Can't create '$tgt_dirpath': $!\n"
 		unless -d $tgt_dirpath;
@@ -487,7 +498,11 @@
   my @files = map { "$datadir/$rdb->{src}/$_" } @{$rdb->{files}};
   next unless @files;
   
-  eval { copy_files($opt{method}, \@files, $rdb->{target}, $rdb->{raid_dirs} ); };
+  if ( $opt{method} =~ /^tar\b/ ) {
+	eval { copy_files($opt{method}, \@files, $rdb->{target}, $rdb->{raid_dirs}, $rdb->{src} ); };
+  } else {
+	eval { copy_files($opt{method}, \@files, $rdb->{target}, $rdb->{raid_dirs} ); };
+  }
   push @failed, "$rdb->{src} -> $rdb->{target} failed: $@"
     if ( $@ );
   
@@ -580,7 +595,7 @@
 # ---
 
 sub copy_files {
-    my ($method, $files, $target, $raid_dirs) = @_;
+    my ($method, $files, $target, $raid_dirs, $tar_src) = @_;
     my @cmd;
     print "Copying ".@$files." files...\n" unless $opt{quiet};
 
@@ -611,6 +626,24 @@
 	    safe_system( $cp, @raid, "'$target'/$rd" ) if ( @raid );
 	}
     }
+    elsif ($method =~ /^tar\b/)  # tar with optional flags
+    {
+        my $tar = $method;
+
+        my @non_raid = map { "'$_'" } grep { ! m:/\d{2}/[^/]+$: } @$files;
+
+        # add files to copy and the destination
+	if (@non_raid) { 
+	my $cmd = $tar . " $target" . "/$tar_src.tgz " . "@non_raid";
+	`$cmd`;
+	}
+
+        foreach my $rd ( @$raid_dirs ) {
+            my @raid = map { "'$_'" } grep { m:$rd/: } @$files;
+            print "Tar method does not currently support RAID directories.  RAID files:\n@raid" if ( @raid );
+        }
+    }
+
     else
     {
 	die "Can't use unsupported method '$method'\n";
@@ -1136,3 +1169,5 @@
 Martin Waite - Fix to handle database name that contains space.
 
 Paul DuBois - Remove end '/' from directory names
+
+Patrick Feliciano - Added support for "tar" method.