Zero Length File at end of Tar Archive

[Butler, Gerald]

Hello,
        I seem to have located a minor glitch with GNU Tar. If the last file
on the archive is a zero-length file, Tar is unable to reliably see the file
upon extract.
        For example, I am archiving a directory to an IDE tape on Linux with
the following command:

                tar -cvf /dev/ht0 /home/sterling

        This archive is approximately 120MB in length.
        Then I am attempting to list the last member of the archive thusly:

                tar -tvf /dev/ht0 -B -b 16384 home/sterling/last_backup

        The 'last_backup' file is a zero length file that was touched just
prior to performing the backup. "tar" is reporting that the file is not found
in archive; however, if I
        take the tape onto SCO Unix, the SCO version of "tar" sees the file
OK.

        I performed a GOOGLE search to look for anything related to this
problem, and I was unable to locate any relevant reference.

        When I ensure the "last_backup" file is NOT a zero-length file (e.g.
"echo `date` > last_backup" prior to creating archive), "Tar" reliably sees
the file at the end of
        the archive consistently.


        Thank You for your time,

        Gerald E Butler
        Programmer/Analyst - Sterling Jewelers Inc.


        P.S. Thank You for the great Software. I admire the motivations of the
GNU project and the FSF.


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