1 GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes.
2 Copyright 1994, 1995-1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 version 1.13.5 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-20.
6 * Do the delayed updates of file metadata even after a fatal error.
8 version 1.13.4 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-20.
10 * Do not chmod unless we are root or the -p option was given;
11 this matches historical practice.
14 version 1.13.3 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-16.
16 * A path name is excluded if any of its file name components matches an
17 excluded pattern, even if the path name was specified on the command line.
20 version 1.13.2 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-14.
22 * Bug reporting address changed to <bug-tar@gnu.org>.
25 version 1.13.1 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-12.
29 version 1.13 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-08.
31 * Support for large files, e.g. files larger than 2 GB on many 32-bit hosts.
32 Also, support for larger uids, device ids, etc.
33 * Many bug fixes and porting fixes.
34 * This release is only for fixes. A more ambitious test release,
35 with new features, is available as part of the paxutils. Please see:
36 http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/paxutils/
37 The fixes in this release are intended to be merged with paxutils
38 at some point, but they haven't been merged yet.
39 * An interim GNU tar alpha had new --bzip2 and --ending-file options,
40 but they have been removed to maintain compatibility with paxutils.
41 Please try --use=bzip2 instead of --bzip2.
43 Version 1.12 - François Pinard, 1997-04.
46 * Use shell globbing patterns for --label, instead of regular expressions.
47 * Do not quote anymore internally over the quoting done by the shell.
50 * Offer internationalisation capabilities of most recent GNU gettext.
51 * Messages available in many more languages, thanks to all translators!
52 * Usage of ISO 8601 dates in listings, instead of local American dates.
53 * More normalisation and cleanup in error messages.
56 * For helping using tar with find, offer a --no-recursion option.
57 * Implement --numeric-owner for ignoring symbolic names at create time.
58 * New --owner, --group --mode options, still preliminary.
59 * Recognise creating an archive on /dev/null, so Amanda works faster.
60 * Object to the creation of an empty archive (like in `tar cf FILE').
61 * Barely start implementing --posix and POSIXLY_CORRECT.
64 * Make a better job at restoring file and directory attributes.
65 * Automatically attempt deleting existing files when in the way.
66 * Option --unlink-first (-U) removes most files prior to extraction.
67 * Option --recursive-unlink removes non-empty directories when in the way.
68 * Option --numeric-owner ignores owner/group names, it uses UID/GID instead.
69 * Use global umask when creating missing intermediate directories.
70 * When symlinks are not available, extract symbolic links as hard links.
71 * Diagnose extraction of contiguous files as regular files.
72 * New --backup, --suffix and --version-control options.
75 * Better support of huge archives with --tape-length and --totals.
76 * Rename option --read-full-blocks (-B) to --read-full-records (-B).
77 * Rename option --block-size (-b) to --blocking-factor (-b).
78 * Rename option --record-number (-R) to --block-number (-R).
79 * With --block-number (-R), report null blocks and end of file.
80 * Implement --record-size for introducing a size in bytes.
81 * Delete --block-compress option and rather decide it automatically.
82 * Rename option --modification-time to --touch.
84 Many bugs are squashed, while others still run free.
86 Version 1.11.8 - François Pinard, 1995-06.
88 * Messages available in French, German, Portuguese and Swedish.
89 * The distribution provides a rudimentary Texinfo manual.
90 * The device defaults to stdin/stdout, unless overridden by the installer.
91 * Option --sparse (-S) should work on more systems.
92 * Option --rsh-command may select an alternative remote shell program.
94 Most changes are internal, and should yield better portability.
96 Version 1.11.2 - Michael Bushnell, 1993-03.
98 * Changes in backup scripts: cleaned up considerably; notices error
99 conditions better over rsh; DUMP_REMIND_SCRIPT is now an option in
100 backup-specs; new file dump-remind is an example of a
103 * Superfluous "Reading dirname" was a bug; fixed.
105 * Incompatibility problems with a bug on Solaris are fixed.
107 * New option --gzip (aliases are --ungzip and -z); calls gzip instead
108 of compress. Also, --use-compress-program lets you specify any
109 compress program. --compress-block is renamed --block-compress and
110 now requires one of the three compression options to be specified.
112 * Several error messages are cleaned up.
114 * Directory owners are now set properly when running as root.
116 * Provide DUMP_REMIND_SCRIPT in backup-specs as a possible option
119 * Behave better with broken rmt servers.
121 * Dump scripts no longer use --atime-preserve; this causes a nasty probem.
123 * Several Makefile cleanups.
125 Version 1.11.1 - Michael Bushnell, 1992-09.
129 Version 1.11 - Michael Bushnell, 1992-09.
130 Version 1.10.16 - 1992-07.
131 Version 1.10.15 - 1992-06.
132 Version 1.10.14 - 1992-05.
133 Version 1.10.13 - 1992-01.
137 * Now uses GNU standard configure, generated by Autoconf.
139 * Long options now use `--'; use of `+' is deprecated and support
140 for it will eventually be removed.
142 * New option --null causes filenames read by -T to be
143 null-terminated, and causes -C to be ignored.
145 * New option --remove-files deletes files (but not directories)
146 after they are added to the archive.
148 * New option --ignore-failed-read prevents read-errors from affecting
151 * New option --checkpoint prints occasional messages as the tape
152 is being read or written.
154 * New option --show-omitted-dirs prints the names of directories
155 omitted from the archive.
157 * Some tape drives which use a non-standard method of indicating
158 end-of-tape now work correctly with multi-tape archives.
160 * --volno-file: Read the volume number used in prompting the user
161 (but not in recording volume ID's on the archive) from a file.
163 * When using --multi-volume, you can now give multiple -f arguments;
164 the various tape drives will get used in sequence and then wrap
165 around to the beginning.
167 * Remote archive names no longer have to be in /dev: any file with a
168 `:' is interpreted as remote. If new option --force-local is given,
169 then even archive files with a `:' are considered local.
171 * New option --atime-preserve restores (if possible) atimes to
172 their original values after dumping the file.
174 * No longer does tar confusingly dump "." when you don't tell it
177 * When extracting directories, tar now correctly restores their
178 modification and access times.
180 * Longnames support is redone differently--long name info directly
181 precedes the long-named file or link in the archive, so you no
182 longer have to wait for the extract to hit the end of the tape for
185 Version 1.10 - Michael Bushnell, 1991-07.
187 * Filename to -G is optional. -C works right. Names +newer and
188 +newer-mtime work right.
190 * -g is now +incremental, -G is now +listed-incremental.
192 * Sparse files now work correctly.
194 * +volume is now called +label.
196 * +exclude now takes a filename argument, and +exclude-from does
197 what +exclude used to do.
199 * Exit status is now correct.
201 * +totals keeps track of total I/O and prints it when tar exits.
203 * When using +label with +extract, the label is now a regexp.
205 * New option +tape-length (-L) does multi-volume handling like BSD
206 dump: you tell tar how big the tape is and it will prompt at that
207 point instead of waiting for a write error.
209 * New backup scripts level-0 and level-1 which might be useful
210 to people. They use a file "backup-specs" for information, and
211 shouldn't need local modification. These are what we use to do
212 all our backups at the FSF.
214 Version 1.09 - Jay Fenlason, 1990-10.
215 Version 1.08 - Jay Fenlason, 1990-01.
216 Versions 1.07 back to 1.00 by Jay Fenlason.
218 * See ChangeLog for more details.