Re: GNU dd and GNU tar See Tape Differently.

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Paul,

drivers/scsi/README.st in Linux 2.4.18 says

    BSD AND SYS V SEMANTICS

    The user can choose between these two behaviours of the tape driver
    by defining the value of the symbol ST_SYSV. The semantics differ
    when a file being read is closed. The BSD semantics leaves the tape
    where it currently is whereas the SYS V semantics moves the tape
    past the next filemark unless the filemark has just been crossed.

    The default is BSD semantics.

So that explains it what I was seeing.

BTW, why was --ignores-zeros added?  I checked the ChangeLogs but
couldn't find anything.  I was wondering in what circumstances it's
useful for tar to stop on two zero records.

Cheers,


Ralph.