+script).
+
+@section Tape Files
+
+When @code{tar} writes an archive to tape, it creates a single tape
+file. If multiple archives are written to the same tape, one after the
+other, they each get written as separate tape files. When extracting,
+it is necessary to position the tape at the right place before running
+@code{tar}. To do this, use the @code{mt} command. For more
+information on the @code{mt} command and on the organization of tapes
+into a sequence of tape files, see XXX.
+
+@chapter Special Options for Archiving
+
+To give the archive a name which will be recorded in it, use the
+@samp{--label=@var{volume-label}} (or @samp{-V}) option. This will
+write a special record identifying @var{volume-label} as the name of the
+archive to the front of the archive which will be displayed when the
+archive is listed with @samp{--list}. If you are creating a
+multi-volume archive with @samp{--multi-volume} (@pxref{Using Multiple
+Tapes}), then the volume label will have @same{ Volume @var{nnn}}
+appended to the name you give, where @var{nnn} is the number of the
+volume of the archive. (If you use the @samp{--label} option when
+reading an archive, it checks to make sure the label on the tape matches
+the one you give. @xref{Special Options for Archiving}.)
+
+Files in the filesystem occasionally have ``holes.'' A hole in a file
+is a section of the file's contents which was never written. The
+contents of a hole read as all zeros. On many operating systems, actual@c
+disk storage is not allocated for holes, but they are counted in the
+length of the file. If you archive such a file, @code{tar} could create
+an archive longer than the original. To have @code{tar} attempt to
+recognize the holes in a file, use @samp{--sparse}. When you use the
+@samp{--sparse} option, then, for any file using less disk space than
+would be expected from its length, @code{tar} searches the file for
+consecutive stretches of zeros. It then records in the archive for the
+file where the consecutive stretches of zeros are, and only archives the
+``real contents'' of the file. On extraction (using @samp{--sparse} is
+not needed on extraction) any such files have hols created wherever the
+continuous stretches of zeros were found. Thus, if you use
+@samp{--sparse}, @code{tar} archives won't take more space than the
+original.
+
+When @code{tar} reads files, this causes them to have the access times
+updated. To have @code{tar} attempt to set the access times back to
+what they were before they were read, use the @samp{--atime-preserve}
+option. This doesn't work for files that you don't own, unless you're
+root, and it doesn't interact with incremental dumps nicely
+(@pxref{Making Backups}), but it is good enough for some purposes.
+
+@chapter Special Options for Reading Archives
+
+