jim (02/28/83)
We just got a tape from Bell, and it is in cpio format. Unfortunately, we are running Berkeley Unix and don't have cpio. Has anyone written a program capable of reading cpio tapes which they could send me? Or could someone send me the manual page or other information needed to read the tape? WARNING: Mailing the manual page may be a copyright violation. Use your own judgement. Angry postscript: The tape contains a package which is licensed separately from Unix 3.0, and yet it is written in a format that only 3.0 and derivatives can read. Tar is a much more widely used format. What prompted the decision to write the tape in cpio format? Is this Bell's not-so-subtle way of telling us we should spend large amounts of money for a Unix system we don't want? For me, one of the great attractions of Unix is that it is relatively free of the "do-it-my-way-or-else" attitude so common in other operating systems. I would hate to see this advantage lost because of marketing decisions.