Re: [PATCH] change default --format from gnu to posix

[Paul Eggert]

On 12/10/21 20:31, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> i think the take away is that GNU tar moves the ecosystem.  if it changed
> its default to pax, then projects would be more incentivized to update.

Yes, it's the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

Something along the lines of patch 1/2 looks OK, though the test for the 
warning looks backwards: shouldn't the warning be issued when the 
builder uses the release default instead of when the builder overrides 
the default?

As for patch 2/2, I expect that we'd need to give distros more warning 
that this time we really mean it; we can't just flip a switch. That is, 
if we're going to do this at all (I'd certainly like Sergey's opinion here).

Have you changed Gentoo's build procedure to configure 'tar' with 
'./configure DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_FORMAT=POSIX' when it builds 'tar'? If not, 
I suggest doing that, and then reporting back after the revised 'tar' 
has been used by a significant number of Gentoo users. That will help 
build a case for making the proposed change.