[BusyBox] tar behavior

[Erik Andersen]

On Mon Apr 09, 2001 at 05:58:03PM -0500, David Douthitt wrote:
> Given a tar file created in the following way:
> 
> tar cvf bin.tar /bin
> 
> ...and extracted in the following manner...
> 
> cd /tmp
> tar xvf bin.tar
> 
> ...I would expect to find it extracting the following:
> 
> /bin/xxxx
> /bin/yyyy
> /bin/zzzz
> 
> **HOWEVER** it would seem that GNU tar does NOT do this:
> 
> bin/xxxx
> bin/yyyy
> bin/zzzz
> 
> ...even though every UNIX book from the beginning of time has told new
> tar users that these were absolute paths.  I've created a patch to
> "fix" this to bring back the actual UNIX behavior.  I can just imagine
> GNU tar broke more than a few backup scripts.
> 
> I know busybox is using GNU behavior, but what if that breaks UNIX
> behavior?

The problem is that traditional UNIX behavior is IMHO broken in
my opinion (and in the opinion of the GNU tar authors).

I would be willing to accept a patch to add -P, which is what GNU
tar uses to force using absolute paths... 

 -Erik

--
Erik B. Andersen   email:  andersen at lineo.com
--This message was written using 73% post-consumer electrons--