[net.unix] tar brain damage?

laman@sdcsvax.UUCP (11/24/83)

"Tar" doesn't save an entry for a directory in System III nor System V.
Consequently, empty directories are "lost" and ownership could be recreated
differently.  Berkely's "tar" makes an entry for directories, so they
shouldn't have the problem.

			Mike Laman
			UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdccsu3,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!laman

gwyn%brl-vld@sri-unix.UUCP (11/27/83)

From:      Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn@brl-vld>

cpio does what you want.  "tar" is only provided for convenience; it
is "obsolete" according to USG.

phil@amd70.UUCP (11/28/83)

Has anyone running V7 noticed that tar doesn't always create directories
with the same permissions as the original? Or that it doesn't create empty
directories?

Is this true for other versions of unix?
-- 
Phil Ngai (408) 988-7777 {ucbvax|decwrl|ihnp4|allegra}!amd70!phil

dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (11/29/83)

V7 tar wrote only files, and information about them, to tape.  When extracting
from tape, it is bright enough to call mkdir if necessary to create a
directory, but mkdir just creates it with the default mode and there is
no information on tape to do a better job.  The 4.1BSD tar writes entries
for directories as well as files on the tape (by default - you can write
tapes compatible with the old tar if you want) and thus can recreate the
mode and owner on extraction.  This will also recreate empty directories.

fair@dual.UUCP (Erik E. Fair) (12/05/83)

My experience is that no version of tar keeps directory characteristics or
empty directories. Hence cpio for System III.

	Erik E. Fair	{ucbvax,amd70,zehntel,unisoft}!dual!fair
			Dual Systems Corporation, Berkeley, California