tar: extract symlink attributes, close some symlink-related races

[chaz/tar] / NEWS

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index c8d614df07868574042c255beb7c0ad67d4911d2..58fd2ff3e048787ed81dcd44c9119adaf9471267 100644 (file)
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2010-03-28
+GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2010-09-17
 Please send GNU tar bug reports to <bug-tar@gnu.org>
 
 \f
+version 1.23.90 - (Git)
 
 * The --full-time option.
 
@@ -10,6 +11,28 @@ time stamps to the full resolution.
 
 * Bugfixes.
 
+** More reliable directory traversal when creating archives
+
+Tar now checks for inconsistencies caused when a file system is
+modified while tar is creating an archive.  In the new approach, tar
+maintains a cache of file descriptors to directories, so it uses more
+file descriptors than before, but it adjusts to system limits on
+the number of file descriptors.  Tar also takes more care when
+a file system is modified while tar is extracting from an archive.
+
+The new checks are implemented via the openat and related calls
+standardized by POSIX.1-2008.  On an older system where these calls do
+not exist or do not return useful results, tar emulates the calls at
+some cost in efficiency and reliability.
+
+** Symbolic link attributes
+
+When extracting symbolic links, tar now restores attributes such as
+last-modified time and link permissions, if the operating system
+supports this.  For example, recent versions of the Linux kernel
+support setting times on symlinks, and some BSD kernels also support
+symlink permissions.
+
 ** Spurious error diagnostics on broken pipe.
 
 When receiving SIGPIPE, tar would exit with error status and
@@ -45,7 +68,12 @@ update of an archive:
 
   tar -rf archive --label 'My volume' .
 
-This did not work in previous versions, in spite of what the docs said.  
+This did not work in previous versions, in spite of what the docs said.
+
+** --record-size and --tape-length (-L) options
+
+Usual size suffixes are allowed for these options.  For example,
+-L10k stands for a 10 kilobyte tape length.
 
 ** Fix dead loop on extracting existing symlinks with the -k option.
 
@@ -128,7 +156,7 @@ the Epoch or a `Time reference' (see below).
 * Time references in --pax-option argument.
 
 Any value from the --pax-option argument that is enclosed in a pair
-of curly braces represents a time reference.  The string between the 
+of curly braces represents a time reference.  The string between the
 braces is understood either as a textual time representation, as described in
 chapter 7, "Date input formats", of the Tar manual, or as a name of
 an existing file, starting with `/' or `.'.  In the latter
@@ -162,14 +190,14 @@ version 1.22 - Sergey Poznyakoff, 2009-03-05
 
 * Support for xz compression
 
-Tar uses xz for compression if one of the following conditions is met: 
+Tar uses xz for compression if one of the following conditions is met:
 
  1. The option --xz or -J (see below) is used.
  2. The xz binary is set as compressor using --use-compress-program option.
  3. The file name of the archive being created ends in `.xz' and
  auto-compress option (-a) is used.
 
-Xz is used for decompression if one of the following conditions is met: 
+Xz is used for decompression if one of the following conditions is met:
 
  1. The option --xz or -J is used.
  2. The xz binary is set as compressor using --use-compress-program option.
@@ -222,7 +250,7 @@ control type of archive members affected by them.  The flags are:
  - s
    Apply transformation to symbolic link targets.
 
- - h  
+ - h
    Apply transformation to hard link targets.
 
 Corresponding upper-case letters negate the meaning, so that
@@ -301,7 +329,7 @@ during both creation and extraction.  Tar 1.19 used them only
 during extraction.
 
 For a detailed description, see chapter 6.7 "Modifying File and Member
-Names". 
+Names".
 
 * Info (end-of-volume) scripts
 
@@ -328,8 +356,8 @@ control systems, e.g. "CVS/", ".svn/", etc.
 
 The following options now work with incremental archives as well:
 
-  --exclude-caches       
-  --exclude-caches-all   
+  --exclude-caches
+  --exclude-caches-all
   --exclude-tag
   --exclude-tag-all
   --exclude-tag-under
@@ -340,7 +368,7 @@ Previous versions always stored absolute file names in rename
 records, even if -P was not used. This is fixed: rename records
 contain file names processed in accordance with the command line
 settings.
-  
+
 * Fix --version output.
 
 * Recognition of broken archives.
@@ -742,7 +770,7 @@ tar.
 * New message translations fi (Finnish), gl (Galician), hr (Croatian),
   hu (Hungarian), ms (Malaysian), nb (Norwegian), ro (Romanian), sk
   (Slovak), zh_CN (Chinese simplified), zh_TW (Chinese traditional).
-  The code 'no' for Norwegian (Bokmål) has been withdrawn; use 'nb' instead.
+  The code 'no' for Norwegian (Bokmål) has been withdrawn; use 'nb' instead.
 
 * Bug fixes.
 
@@ -1067,7 +1095,7 @@ version 1.13 - Paul Eggert, 1999-07-08.
   but they have been removed to maintain compatibility with paxutils.
   Please try --use=bzip2 instead of --bzip2.
 \f
-Version 1.12 - François Pinard, 1997-04.
+Version 1.12 - François Pinard, 1997-04.
 
 Sensitive matters
 * Use shell globbing patterns for --label, instead of regular expressions.
@@ -1110,7 +1138,7 @@ Various changes
 
 Many bugs are squashed, while others still run free.
 \f
-Version 1.11.8 - François Pinard, 1995-06.
+Version 1.11.8 - François Pinard, 1995-06.
 
 * Messages available in French, German, Portuguese and Swedish.
 * The distribution provides a rudimentary Texinfo manual.