Re: [Bug-tar] Status of feature request: ignore requested members missing in archive

[Nathan Stratton Treadway]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 22:33:14 +0400, Vladimir A. Pavlov wrote:
> Dear tar developers!
> 
> Could you please clarify the status of my previous email with a patch for
> feature request: 
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2014-06/msg00003.html ?
[...]
> > The attached patch implements a new option 
> > --ignore-missing/--no-ignore-missing
> > which allows the behavior wanted:
> > 
> > $ touch file
> > $ tar -c file | tar --ignore-missing -t dir
> > $ echo $?
> > 0
> > $


This reminds me that there was actually an earlier proposal for an
"--ignore-missing" option -- in that case, to control GNU tar's behavior
when particular files were not found as the archive was being created:

  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-tar/2012-04/msg00017.html


I am not sure off hand if it would make sense to control behavior for
both create and extract using the same option or if they are different
enough in meaning that they should be requested separately. 

But in any case it seems the two requests taken together are an
indication that it would be useful to have a more structured way to
control what situations GNU tar treats as errors (i.e. causing it to
exit with an error status) and what is considered just a warning.

                                                Nathan

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