Re: [Bug-tar] [PATCH] add --ignore-missing to ignore missing input files

[Paul Eggert]

On 04/20/2012 03:13 AM, Stefan Tomanek wrote:

> "Save all files that have been changed since a specific time stamp, exclude 
> directory X/,
> exclude files from director Y/ *but* do save directories from it to the tar 
> file"

This can be done with the combination of the flags
--newer-mtime and --exclude-tag-under, or something like that,
I expect.

> There are quite a lot of things that find can, but tar cannot do.

Absolutely!  But I don't see why this one in particular is one of them.

In the longer run, Joerg's suggestion of using libfind, or something like
that, may be a better one -- then 'tar' could do anything that 'find' can
do, without further ado.  However, libfind (or whatever) would have to be
audited for security holes....

> I also spoke to many different people that are in fact using the combination 
> of
> find and tar

This combination is safe in environments where only trusted users can
modify the file system.  But it's not safe in general, which is why
I have qualms about supporting it.