Handle better multiple paths with the same basename

[Mazwak]

Hi

If I try to compress:

C:\scripts
E:\Backup\Scripts
E:\Local\Scripts

ouch strips path, and I end up with only "Scripts" in the archive.

In Zip, it is catastrophic, everything is inside a single folder.
In Tar, each folder is shown, but if I decompress, everything is in the same folder.

Not sure how it can be handled.

Maybe a --full-path parameter.

Could be useful (example) for:
/etc
/opt/solr/config
/usr/local/etc
/var/lib/xxx/config
/srv/solr

[tommady]

Hi, thanks for your report.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to reproduce your issue in the following environment:

 uname --all
Linux amd64-node-2 6.19.14-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:57:02 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

ouch --version
ouch 0.7.1

If I understand your issue correctly, given a file system like this:

ea -T
 .
├──  c
│   └──  scripts
│       └── 󰡯 something
└──  e
    ├──  backup
    │   └──  Scripts
    │       └── 󰡯 something
    └──  Local
        └──  Scripts
            └── 󰡯 something

you expect that after compressing and decompressing (using zip or tar), the paths would be stripped.

However, in my tests, the directory structure is preserved correctly after both compression and decompression (see results below).

ouch compress c e test-issue-978.tar
[INFO] Compressing "c"
[INFO] Compressing "c/scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "c/scripts/something"
[INFO] Compressing "e"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local/Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup/Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Output file size:   6.14 kiB
[INFO] Successfully compressed to "test-issue-978.tar"

ouch compress c e test-issue-978.zip
[INFO] Compressing "c"
[INFO] Compressing "c/scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "c/scripts/something"
[INFO] Compressing "e"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local/Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "e/Local/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup/Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "e/backup/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Output file size:   1.46 kiB
[INFO] Successfully compressed to "test-issue-978.zip"

ea
 c   e   test-issue-978.tar   test-issue-978.zip

ouch decompress test-issue-978.tar --dir test_tar
[INFO] Directory "test_tar" created
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/c"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/c/scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/c/scripts/something"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/Local"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/Local/Scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/Local/Scripts/something"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/backup"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/backup/Scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_tar/e/backup/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Successfully decompressed archive to "test_tar"
[INFO] Files unpacked: 10

ouch decompress test-issue-978.zip --dir test_zip
[INFO] Directory "test_zip" created
[INFO] File 0 extracted to "test_zip/c"
[INFO] File 1 extracted to "test_zip/c/scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_zip/c/scripts/something"
[INFO] File 3 extracted to "test_zip/e"
[INFO] File 4 extracted to "test_zip/e/Local"
[INFO] File 5 extracted to "test_zip/e/Local/Scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_zip/e/Local/Scripts/something"
[INFO] File 7 extracted to "test_zip/e/backup"
[INFO] File 8 extracted to "test_zip/e/backup/Scripts"
[INFO] extracted (  0.00   B) "test_zip/e/backup/Scripts/something"
[INFO] Successfully decompressed archive to "test_zip"
[INFO] Files unpacked: 10

ea -T test_tar/
 test_tar
├──  c
│   └──  scripts
│       └── 󰡯 something
└──  e
    ├──  backup
    │   └──  Scripts
    │       └── 󰡯 something
    └──  Local
        └──  Scripts
            └── 󰡯 something

ea -T test_zip/
 test_zip
├──  c
│   └──  scripts
│       └── 󰡯 something
└──  e
    ├──  backup
    │   └──  Scripts
    │       └── 󰡯 something
    └──  Local
        └──  Scripts
            └── 󰡯 something

Could you provide more details about your environment or steps to reproduce the issue?
That would help us better understand and investigate the problem.

[Mazwak]

Windows Server 2025 (24H2)
ouch 0.7.1 (msvc)

I expect the path NOT to be stripped.

The drive letter might be a real challenge, mainly for decompressing.

Even without drive letters, it is problematic.

PS E:> E:\Backup\Bin\ouch.exe compress Backup\Config\ Backup\Scripts\ migration\Scripts\ E:\Backup\Data\Test_fichiers.zip
[INFO] Compressing "Config"
[INFO] Compressing "Config\config.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Config\config_full.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\config.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\config_pg_multiple.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\config_pg_single.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\DumpBase.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\DumpFindBinary.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\examples"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\examples\mysql_fichier"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\examples\mysql_fichier\config.json"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\examples\mysql_répertoire"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Config.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Config.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Custom.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Custom.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Log.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Log.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Mails.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Mails.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\MySQL.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\MySQL.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Ouch.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\Ouch.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\PostgreSQL.psd1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\modules\PostgreSQL.psm1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\novapp1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\novapp1\exportDbV10 - 12032026).ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\novapp1\exportDbV10 - Copy.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\novapp1\exportDbV10.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\ouch.exe"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\RotateBackups.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts\Test_mails.ps1"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts"
[ERROR] Invalid zip archive

• Duplicate filename: Scripts/

Looking at your logs, it seems like a windows problem.

[tommady]

I am very sorry
I don't have Windows OS, so I am unable to debug or confirm a fix for this issue. 😣

[Mazwak]

I tried WSL2, and I have the same problem.

I only want some specific dirs, not the whole c and e.

Try

ouch compress c/scripts e/Local/Scripts e/backup/Scripts test-issue-978.zip

On my WSL2

➜ ~ tar cvz /mnt/d/Temp/GOG/Scripts /mnt/d/Temp/kodi/Scripts > test.tar.gz
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
/mnt/d/Temp/GOG/Scripts/
/mnt/d/Temp/kodi/Scripts/
➜ ~ tar tfz test.tar.gz
mnt/d/Temp/GOG/Scripts/
mnt/d/Temp/kodi/Scripts/
➜ ~ ouch compress /mnt/d/Temp/GOG/Scripts /mnt/d/Temp/kodi/Scripts test.tar.gz
Do you want to overwrite "test.tar.gz"? [y/n/r]
y
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts"
[INFO] Compressing "Scripts"
[INFO] Output file size: 113.00 B
[INFO] Successfully compressed to "test.tar.gz"
➜ ~ tar tfz test.tar.gz
Scripts
Scripts

[tommady]

@Mazwak Ah, I completely misunderstood your point in my previous comments. You are absolutely right!

My earlier test commands were compressing the root directories (c and e), whereas your issue occurs when you directly target subdirectories that happen to share the same basename (like ouch compress c/Scripts e/Local/Scripts test-issue-978.zip).

You mentioned in your original post:

Not sure how it can be handled. Maybe a --full-path parameter.

We actually have a PR up right now (#999) that tries to handle this automatically by calculating the "common ancestor" of the duplicate paths and preserving the structure from there.

@marcospb19 What are your thoughts on the design direction here? Should we:

1. Try to automatically disambiguate paths under the hood (like PR fix: disambiguate archive entries when multiple inputs share the same basename #999 is attempting, though we'd need to iron out a few edge cases).
2. Go with an explicit flag like --full-path or --preserve-paths.
3. Introduce an interactive conflict prompt when ouch detects internal duplicate basenames (similar to how we currently prompt for overwriting output files)?