Re: [Bug-tar] Warning message when reading partial blocks from stdin.

[Paul Eggert]

Gunnar Ritter <address@hidden> writes:

> Joerg Schilling <address@hidden> wrote:
>> The standard requires the tar archives to be blocked with a multiple of
>> 512 bytes.
>
> And what, exactly, is the point in requiring this when reading parts of
> archives that are completely meaningless?

Minor reasons, I suspect.  It reflects historical practice.  It allows
programs like "tar" to warn the user in some cases where junk has been
accidentally appended to the archive.  It allows programs to copy tar
archives to archival devices that accept data only in 512-byte blocks.