From: Sergey Poznyakoff Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 14:39:10 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Updated X-Git-Url: https://git.brokenzipper.com/gitweb?a=commitdiff_plain;h=cbde0aa660f85b1088493b5c754440e62b4b0416;p=chaz%2Ftar Updated --- diff --git a/README b/README index 6297ff1..5ee115d 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,25 +1,7 @@ README for GNU tar +See the end of file for copying conditions. - Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, - 2001, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc. - - This file is part of GNU tar. - - GNU tar is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify - it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by - the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) - any later version. - - GNU tar is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, - but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of - MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the - GNU General Public License for more details. - - You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License - along with tar; see the file COPYING. If not, write to - the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, - Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. - +* Introduction Please glance through *all* sections of this `README' file before starting configuration. Also make sure you read files @@ -48,13 +30,15 @@ See file `THANKS' for a list of contributors. Besides those configure options documented in files `INSTALL' and `ABOUT-NLS', an extra option may be accepted after `./configure': -* `--disable-largefile' omits support for large files, even if the -operating system supports large files. Typically, large files are -those larger on 2 GB on a 32-bit host. +* Install + +** Selecting the default archive format. The default archive format is GNU, this can be overridden by presetting DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_FORMAT while configuring. The allowed -values are GNU, V7, OLDGNU and POSIX. +values are GNU, V7, OLDGNU, USTAR and POSIX. + +** Selecting the default archive device The default archive device is now `stdin' on read and `stdout' on write. The installer can still override this by presetting `DEFAULT_ARCHIVE' @@ -62,33 +46,15 @@ in the environment before configuring (the behavior of `-[0-7]' or `-[0-7]lmh' options in `tar' are then derived automatically). Similarly, `DEFAULT_BLOCKING' can be preset to something else than 20. -For comprehensive modifications to GNU tar, you might need tools beyond -those used in simple installations. Fully install GNU m4 1.4 first, -and only then, Autoconf 2.57 or later. Install Perl, then Automake -1.7.5 or later. Also, install gettext 0.12.1 or later. You might -need Bison 1.875 or later, and GNU tar itself. All are available on -GNU archive sites, like in ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/. - -Send bug reports to . A bug report should contain -an adequate description of the problem, your input, what you expected, -what you got, and why this is wrong. Diffs are welcome, but they only -describe a solution, from which the problem might be uneasy to infer. -If needed, submit actual data files with your report. Small data files -are preferred. Big files may sometimes be necessary, but do not send them -to the report address; rather take special arrangement with the maintainer. - -Your feedback will help us to make a better and more portable package. -Consider documentation errors as bugs, and report them as such. If you -develop anything pertaining to `tar' or have suggestions, let us know -and share your findings by writing to . - +** `--disable-largefile' omits support for large files, even if the +operating system supports large files. Typically, large files are +those larger on 2 GB on a 32-bit host. -Installation hints ------------------- +* Installation hints Here are a few hints which might help installing `tar' on some systems. -* gzip and bzip2. +** gzip and bzip2. GNU tar uses the gzip and bzip2 programs to read and write compressed archives. If you don't have these programs already, you need to @@ -109,7 +75,7 @@ in gzip test version 1.3, which as of this writing is available at incompatibility by using a shell command like `gzip -d is not found (Slackware). -* OPENStep 4.2 swap files +** OPENStep 4.2 swap files Tar cannot read the file /private/vm/swapfile.front (even as root). This file is not a real file, but some kind of uncompressed view of the real compressed swap file; there is no reason to back it up, so the simplest workaround is to avoid tarring this file. - -Special topics --------------- +* Special topics Here are a few special matters about GNU `tar', not related to build matters. See previous section for such. -* File attributes. +** File attributes. About *security*, it is probable that future releases of `tar' will have some behavior changed. There are many pending suggestions to choose from. @@ -181,19 +145,76 @@ implement flavors of symbolic links showing different behavior and properties. We did not successfully sorted all these out yet. Currently, the `lchown' call will be used if available, but that's all. -* POSIX compliance. +** POSIX compliance. -GNU `tar' implements an early draft of the POSIX 1003.1 `ustar' standard -which is different from the final standard. This will be progressively -corrected over the incoming few years. Don't be mislead by the mere -existence of the --posix option. Later releases will become able to -read truly POSIX archives, and also to produce them under option. (Also, -if you look at the internals, don't take the GNU extensions you see for -granted, as they are planned to change.) GNU tar 2.0 will produce POSIX -archives by default, but there is a long way before we get there. +GNU `tar' is able to create archive in the following formats: + + *** The format of UNIX version 7 + *** POSIX.1-1988 format, also known as "ustar format" + *** POSIX.1-2001 format, also known as "pax format" + *** Old GNU format (described below) + +In addition to those, GNU `tar' is also able to read archives +produced by `star' archiver. + +A so called `Old GNU' format is based on an early draft of the +POSIX 1003.1 `ustar' standard which is different from the final +standard. It defines its extensions (such as incremental backups +and handling of the long file names) in a way incompatible with +any existing tar archive format, therefore the use of old GNU +format is strongly discouraged. + +Please read the file NEWS for more information about POSIX compliance +and new `tar' features. * What's next? In the future we will try to release tar-1.14 as soon as possible and start merging with paxutils afterwards. We'll also try to rewrite some parts of the documentation after paxutils has been merged. + +* Bug reporting. + +Send bug reports to . A bug report should contain +an adequate description of the problem, your input, what you expected, +what you got, and why this is wrong. Diffs are welcome, but they only +describe a solution, from which the problem might be uneasy to infer. +If needed, submit actual data files with your report. Small data files +are preferred. Big files may sometimes be necessary, but do not send them +to the report address; rather take special arrangement with the maintainer. + +Your feedback will help us to make a better and more portable package. +Consider documentation errors as bugs, and report them as such. If you +develop anything pertaining to `tar' or have suggestions, let us know +and share your findings by writing to . + + +* Copying + + Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, + 2001, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc. + + This file is part of GNU tar. + + GNU tar is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify + it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by + the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) + any later version. + + GNU tar is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, + but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of + MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the + GNU General Public License for more details. + + You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License + along with tar; see the file COPYING. If not, write to + the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, + Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. + + +Local Variables: +mode: outline +paragraph-separate: "[ ]*$" +version-control: never +End: +