1 GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes.
2 Copyright 1994, 1995-1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 version 1.13.1 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-12.
8 version 1.13 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-08.
10 * Support for large files, e.g. files larger than 2 GB on many 32-bit hosts.
11 Also, support for larger uids, device ids, etc.
12 * Many bug fixes and porting fixes.
13 * This release is only for fixes. A more ambitious test release,
14 with new features, is available as part of the paxutils. Please see:
15 http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/contrib/paxutils/
16 The fixes in this release are intended to be merged with paxutils
17 at some point, but they haven't been merged yet.
18 * An interim GNU tar alpha had new --bzip2 and --ending-file options,
19 but they have been removed to maintain compatibility with paxutils.
20 Please try --use=bzip2 instead of --bzip2.
22 Version 1.12 - François Pinard, 1997-04.
25 * Use shell globbing patterns for --label, instead of regular expressions.
26 * Do not quote anymore internally over the quoting done by the shell.
29 * Offer internationalisation capabilities of most recent GNU gettext.
30 * Messages available in many more languages, thanks to all translators!
31 * Usage of ISO 8601 dates in listings, instead of local American dates.
32 * More normalisation and cleanup in error messages.
35 * For helping using tar with find, offer a --no-recursion option.
36 * Implement --numeric-owner for ignoring symbolic names at create time.
37 * New --owner, --group --mode options, still preliminary.
38 * Recognise creating an archive on /dev/null, so Amanda works faster.
39 * Object to the creation of an empty archive (like in `tar cf FILE').
40 * Barely start implementing --posix and POSIXLY_CORRECT.
43 * Make a better job at restoring file and directory attributes.
44 * Automatically attempt deleting existing files when in the way.
45 * Option --unlink-first (-U) removes most files prior to extraction.
46 * Option --recursive-unlink removes non-empty directories when in the way.
47 * Option --numeric-owner ignores owner/group names, it uses UID/GID instead.
48 * Use global umask when creating missing intermediate directories.
49 * When symlinks are not available, extract symbolic links as hard links.
50 * Diagnose extraction of contiguous files as regular files.
51 * New --backup, --suffix and --version-control options.
54 * Better support of huge archives with --tape-length and --totals.
55 * Rename option --read-full-blocks (-B) to --read-full-records (-B).
56 * Rename option --block-size (-b) to --blocking-factor (-b).
57 * Rename option --record-number (-R) to --block-number (-R).
58 * With --block-number (-R), report null blocks and end of file.
59 * Implement --record-size for introducing a size in bytes.
60 * Delete --block-compress option and rather decide it automatically.
61 * Rename option --modification-time to --touch.
63 Many bugs are squashed, while others still run free.
65 Version 1.11.8 - François Pinard, 1995-06.
67 * Messages available in French, German, Portuguese and Swedish.
68 * The distribution provides a rudimentary Texinfo manual.
69 * The device defaults to stdin/stdout, unless overridden by the installer.
70 * Option --sparse (-S) should work on more systems.
71 * Option --rsh-command may select an alternative remote shell program.
73 Most changes are internal, and should yield better portability.
75 Version 1.11.2 - Michael Bushnell, 1993-03.
77 * Changes in backup scripts: cleaned up considerably; notices error
78 conditions better over rsh; DUMP_REMIND_SCRIPT is now an option in
79 backup-specs; new file dump-remind is an example of a
82 * Superfluous "Reading dirname" was a bug; fixed.
84 * Incompatibility problems with a bug on Solaris are fixed.
86 * New option --gzip (aliases are --ungzip and -z); calls gzip instead
87 of compress. Also, --use-compress-program lets you specify any
88 compress program. --compress-block is renamed --block-compress and
89 now requires one of the three compression options to be specified.
91 * Several error messages are cleaned up.
93 * Directory owners are now set properly when running as root.
95 * Provide DUMP_REMIND_SCRIPT in backup-specs as a possible option
98 * Behave better with broken rmt servers.
100 * Dump scripts no longer use --atime-preserve; this causes a nasty probem.
102 * Several Makefile cleanups.
104 Version 1.11.1 - Michael Bushnell, 1992-09.
108 Version 1.11 - Michael Bushnell, 1992-09.
109 Version 1.10.16 - 1992-07.
110 Version 1.10.15 - 1992-06.
111 Version 1.10.14 - 1992-05.
112 Version 1.10.13 - 1992-01.
116 * Now uses GNU standard configure, generated by Autoconf.
118 * Long options now use `--'; use of `+' is deprecated and support
119 for it will eventually be removed.
121 * New option --null causes filenames read by -T to be
122 null-terminated, and causes -C to be ignored.
124 * New option --remove-files deletes files (but not directories)
125 after they are added to the archive.
127 * New option --ignore-failed-read prevents read-errors from affecting
130 * New option --checkpoint prints occasional messages as the tape
131 is being read or written.
133 * New option --show-omitted-dirs prints the names of directories
134 omitted from the archive.
136 * Some tape drives which use a non-standard method of indicating
137 end-of-tape now work correctly with multi-tape archives.
139 * --volno-file: Read the volume number used in prompting the user
140 (but not in recording volume ID's on the archive) from a file.
142 * When using --multi-volume, you can now give multiple -f arguments;
143 the various tape drives will get used in sequence and then wrap
144 around to the beginning.
146 * Remote archive names no longer have to be in /dev: any file with a
147 `:' is interpreted as remote. If new option --force-local is given,
148 then even archive files with a `:' are considered local.
150 * New option --atime-preserve restores (if possible) atimes to
151 their original values after dumping the file.
153 * No longer does tar confusingly dump "." when you don't tell it
156 * When extracting directories, tar now correctly restores their
157 modification and access times.
159 * Longnames support is redone differently--long name info directly
160 precedes the long-named file or link in the archive, so you no
161 longer have to wait for the extract to hit the end of the tape for
164 Version 1.10 - Michael Bushnell, 1991-07.
166 * Filename to -G is optional. -C works right. Names +newer and
167 +newer-mtime work right.
169 * -g is now +incremental, -G is now +listed-incremental.
171 * Sparse files now work correctly.
173 * +volume is now called +label.
175 * +exclude now takes a filename argument, and +exclude-from does
176 what +exclude used to do.
178 * Exit status is now correct.
180 * +totals keeps track of total I/O and prints it when tar exits.
182 * When using +label with +extract, the label is now a regexp.
184 * New option +tape-length (-L) does multi-volume handling like BSD
185 dump: you tell tar how big the tape is and it will prompt at that
186 point instead of waiting for a write error.
188 * New backup scripts level-0 and level-1 which might be useful
189 to people. They use a file "backup-specs" for information, and
190 shouldn't need local modification. These are what we use to do
191 all our backups at the FSF.
193 Version 1.09 - Jay Fenlason, 1990-10.
194 Version 1.08 - Jay Fenlason, 1990-01.
195 Versions 1.07 back to 1.00 by Jay Fenlason.
197 * See ChangeLog for more details.