NEW TAR

[Harti Brandt]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004, Tim Kientzle wrote:

TK>Andrey Chernov wrote:
TK>> On Sat, Jul 17, 2004 at 10:37:28AM -0700, Tim Kientzle wrote:
TK>> 
TK>> > * File format: bsdtar can read gtar files, including
TK>> >   long file names, long link names, and sparse files.
TK>> >   bsdtar can also read many other formats that gtar
TK>> >   does not support.
TK>> 
TK>> Addition:
TK>> bsdtar can't write sparse archives (Yet?).
TK>
TK>gtar has to be better at something!  ;-)
TK>
TK>I have some ideas about sparse file handling,
TK>but they're not gtar-compatible.  (The gtar
TK>approach has a number of drawbacks.  The primary
TK>one being that on many systems it requires reading
TK>the entire file twice, once to find holes and again
TK>to actually archive the file.  It is possible to
TK>do both in one pass if you store the sparse file
TK>data in a different fashion.)

You may also talk with Joerg Schilling who's star supports sparse files.

harti