Re: [Bug-tar] [patch v3] Bug / question in tar

[Markus Steinborn]

Pavel Raiskup schrieb:
> Marcus, you are still able to 'cat | tar -x -f -'.  I also don't think that
> 'tar -x' differs from 'tar -x -f -' because the '-f -' is just an
> './configure' time default which may differ from setup to setup (yes, yes,
> the default seems to be always '-f -', though).  BTW, from [1]:
Exactly, but for helping people accidentally typing "tar -x BIGFILE.tar" 
that resticted version would also help. On the other side, I cannot 
imagine accidentally typing "-f -" as option with parameter.

> TBH, I don't see much benefits if we let the tar command reading the
> terminal input & success..
I agree, usage is very limited. But imagine a "tar 
---use-compress-programm=base64 -xf -" over a serial console. Then the 
input of the tty may come from a program which can transmit files over 
the serial console that way. Haven't that, but today I've had the idea 
to use expect and screen on a managemant pc to transmit files over a 
serial line to a serial console just requiring "tar" and "base64" on the 
client.

Of cause, you can use "cat | tar ..." or even "base64 -d | tar -x", but 
the first is a case of useless cat. The second option is ok.


So we have a legal use case and no need to break it to catch the common 
mistake in tar invocation.

Greetings

Markus