NEW TAR

[Tim Kientzle]

Andrey Chernov wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 17, 2004 at 10:37:28AM -0700, Tim Kientzle wrote:
>
>> * File format: bsdtar can read gtar files, including
>>   long file names, long link names, and sparse files.
>>   bsdtar can also read many other formats that gtar
>>   does not support.
>
> Addition:
> bsdtar can't write sparse archives (Yet?).

gtar has to be better at something!  ;-)

I have some ideas about sparse file handling,
but they're not gtar-compatible.  (The gtar
approach has a number of drawbacks.  The primary
one being that on many systems it requires reading
the entire file twice, once to find holes and again
to actually archive the file.  It is possible to
do both in one pass if you store the sparse file
data in a different fashion.)

Tim