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