behavioural differences between GNU tar and BB tar

Michael S. Zick mszick at morethan.org
Tue Apr 18 21:01:29 UTC 2006


On Tue April 18 2006 15:37, Glenn L. McGrath wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:48:01 -0500
> "Michael S. Zick" <mszick at morethan.org> wrote:
> 
> > Does bb_tar handle labeled archives?
> > 
> > I am not currently using that feature, but I have used it in the
> > past to store meta-information as an archive label.
> > 
> > NOT a feature request, just one more question for the stack.
> 
> Ive never heard of labeled tar archives, so no it doesnt.
> 
> Are labeled archives a really old thing (some old tar format), or a
> really new thing (pax) ?
>
Duh...
tar has been around longer than I have, so I do not know when it
started.  It is in the 'default' gnu-tar format.

<quote>

       -V, --label NAME
              create archive with volume name NAME
</quote>

It does not seem to match any of the standards I have seen
for labeled (magnetic) tapes.  So it may be a format originated
by the authors of tar. 

The only use I ever made of it was for user defined (me) meta-data
in the tarball.

If bb does not support the labels, then do not bother adding them.

Mike



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