[Bug-tar] Problem w/ --compare in 1.14 & 1.15.1 on FC3

[Glenn Talbott]

Tar Maintainers,

After I upgraded one of my Linux systems from RH-8 to Fedora Core 3 I have
encountered a recurring problem with listed incremental backups and
--compare option. The following script will illustrate the problem:

#####
TAR=/bin/tar
TMP_SNAP=/tmp/tarcheck.snap
fs=/usr/local
TAR_PART1="${TAR} -c --one-file-system --sparse"
TAR_PART2="--listed-incremental=${TMP_SNAP}"
TAR_PART3="--exclude-from=/tmp/tar.exclude --totals"

TAR_PART4="--label='tarcheck' --directory=${fs} ."

TAR_CHECK="${TAR} --compare --directory=${fs} ${TAR_PART2} ${TAR_PART3} ."

${TAR_PART1} ${TAR_PART2} ${TAR_PART3} ${TAR_PART4} >/tmp/tarcheck.tar

echo Comparing...

/bin/cat /tmp/tarcheck.tar | ${TAR_CHECK}
#####
When run on my Fedora system:

$uname -a
Linux linux2.talbott.home 2.6.9-1.667 #1 Tue Nov 2 14:41:25 EST 2004 i686
i686 i386 GNU/Linux
$tar --version
Tar (GNU tar) 1.15.1

The first run is OK, and creates the snapshot file. The second run
(incremental) the compare step produces a long list of directories with the
notation "Contents differ" after each one. No individual files are listed
(unless they actually differ.)

When run on my RH-8 system

$uname -a
Linux linux1.talbott.home 2.4.18-14 #1 Wed Sep 4 13:35:50 EST 2002 i686 i686
i386 GNU/Linux
$tar --version
Tar (GNU tar) 1.13.25
+copyright and NO WARRANTY message...

There are no "Contents differ" messages on the second run, everything is
fine and it does detect really changed files.

I had the same problem with 1.14 that came with Fedora Core 3 so I upgraded
to 1.15.1.

Is this a bug?
Is there a workaround?
Does this have anything to do with the logical volume stuff now on Fedora?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Glenn Talbott
address@hidden