diff -pur tar-1.13.25/ChangeLog my-tar-1.13.25/ChangeLog
--- tar-1.13.25/ChangeLog	Wed Sep 26 13:54:08 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/ChangeLog	Mon Jan 14 22:39:30 2002
@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
+2002-01-14  Jason Spence  <address@hidden>
+
+	* THANKS: Add Jason Spence.
+
+	* doc/tar.texi: Document the new behavior.
+
+	* src/common.h: Added new return values for read_header and magic
+	numbers for bzip2 and gzip.
+
+	* src/list.c (read_and): Added logic for new return values from
+	read_header which will automatically re-open the file if
+	read_header reports it is a compressed archive.
+	
+	* src/list.c (read_header): Added logic to detect bzip2 and gzip
+	headers.
+
+	* src/tar.c (set_use_compress_program_option): Changed prototype
+	so it can be called from read_and in module list.c.
+
 2001-09-26  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>
 
 	* NEWS, configure.ac (AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE): Version 1.13.25.
diff -pur tar-1.13.25/THANKS my-tar-1.13.25/THANKS
--- tar-1.13.25/THANKS	Wed Sep 26 13:29:16 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/THANKS	Mon Jan 14 22:11:16 2002
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ Jan Carlson		address@hidden
 Jan Djarv		address@hidden
 Janice Burton		address@hidden
 Janne Snabb		address@hidden
+Jason Spence		address@hidden
 Jason R. Mastaler	address@hidden
 Jay Fenlason		address@hidden
 Jean-Michel Soenen	address@hidden
diff -pur tar-1.13.25/doc/tar.texi my-tar-1.13.25/doc/tar.texi
--- tar-1.13.25/doc/tar.texi	Wed Sep 26 11:46:09 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/doc/tar.texi	Mon Jan 14 22:20:53 2002
@@ -6421,6 +6421,17 @@ disk space, by using pipes internally:
 $ @kbd{tar tfz archive.tar.gz}
 @end example
 
address@hidden tar is smart enough to figure out if you are trying to
+decompress an archive compressed using the bzip2 or gzip algorithms,
+and will automatically decompress them for you using the appropriate
+program if necessary.  This is especially useful if you are not sure
+which algorithm was used to compress your archive.  In that case, it
+is not necessary to specify either decompression option:
+
address@hidden
+$ @kbd{tar tf archive.tar.gz}
address@hidden example
+
 @cindex corrupted archives
 About corrupted compressed archives: @command{gzip}'ed files have no
 redundancy, for maximum compression.  The adaptive nature of the
diff -pur tar-1.13.25/src/common.h my-tar-1.13.25/src/common.h
--- tar-1.13.25/src/common.h	Thu Sep 20 17:00:55 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/src/common.h	Mon Jan 14 22:23:46 2002
@@ -425,9 +425,17 @@ enum read_header
   HEADER_SUCCESS_EXTENDED,	/* likewise, but we got an extended header */
   HEADER_ZERO_BLOCK,		/* zero block where header expected */
   HEADER_END_OF_FILE,		/* true end of file while header expected */
-  HEADER_FAILURE		/* ill-formed header, or bad checksum */
+  HEADER_FAILURE,		/* ill-formed header, or bad checksum */
+  HEADER_GZIP,                  /* trying to untar a gzip compressed file */
+  HEADER_BZIP2                  /* trying to untar a bzip2 compressed file */
 };
 
+/* magic numbers to identify compressed archives */
+#define GZIP_MAGIC_LEN 2
+#define GZIP_MAGIC "\037\213"
+#define BZIP2_MAGIC_LEN 2
+#define BZIP2_MAGIC "BZ"
+
 extern union block *current_header;
 extern struct stat current_stat;
 extern enum archive_format current_format;
@@ -570,6 +578,7 @@ int is_avoided_name PARAMS ((char const 
 
 int confirm PARAMS ((const char *, const char *));
 void request_stdin PARAMS ((const char *));
+void set_use_compress_program_option PARAMS ((const char *string));
 
 /* Module update.c.  */
 
diff -pur tar-1.13.25/src/list.c my-tar-1.13.25/src/list.c
--- tar-1.13.25/src/list.c	Wed Sep 26 13:05:04 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/src/list.c	Mon Jan 14 22:30:52 2002
@@ -83,6 +83,18 @@ read_and (void (*do_something) ())
 	case HEADER_STILL_UNREAD:
 	  abort ();
 
+	case HEADER_GZIP:
+	  close_archive();
+	  set_use_compress_program_option("gzip");
+	  open_archive (ACCESS_READ);
+	  continue;
+
+	case HEADER_BZIP2:
+	  close_archive();
+	  set_use_compress_program_option("bzip2");
+	  open_archive (ACCESS_READ);
+	  continue;
+
 	case HEADER_SUCCESS:
 
 	  /* Valid header.  We should decode next field (mode) first.
@@ -305,6 +317,14 @@ read_header (bool raw_extended_headers)
 	}
       unsigned_sum += ' ' * sizeof header->header.chksum;
       signed_sum += ' ' * sizeof header->header.chksum;
+      if (strncmp(GZIP_MAGIC, header->buffer, GZIP_MAGIC_LEN) == 0)
+	{
+	  return HEADER_GZIP;
+	}
+      if (strncmp(BZIP2_MAGIC, header->buffer, BZIP2_MAGIC_LEN) == 0)
+	{
+	  return HEADER_BZIP2;
+	}
 
       parsed_sum = from_header (header->header.chksum,
 				sizeof header->header.chksum, 0,
diff -pur tar-1.13.25/src/tar.c my-tar-1.13.25/src/tar.c
--- tar-1.13.25/src/tar.c	Thu Sep 20 17:11:27 2001
+++ my-tar-1.13.25/src/tar.c	Mon Jan 14 21:51:18 2002
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ set_subcommand_option (enum subcommand s
   subcommand_option = subcommand;
 }
 
-static void
+void
 set_use_compress_program_option (const char *string)
 {
   if (use_compress_program_option && strcmp (use_compress_program_option, string) != 0)