-GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2008-06-26
+GNU tar NEWS - User visible changes. 2009-08-08
Please send GNU tar bug reports to <bug-tar@gnu.org>
\f
-version 1.20.90 (CVS)
+version 1.22.90 (Git)
+
+* Record size autodetection
+
+When listing or extracting archives, the actual record size is
+reported only if the archive is read from a device (as opposed
+to regular files and pipes).
+
+* New command line option `--warning'
+
+The `--warning' command line option allows to suppress or enable
+particular warning messages during `tar' run. It takes a single
+argument (a `keyword'), identifying the class of warning messages
+to affect. If the argument is prefixed with `no-', such warning
+messages are suppressed. For example,
+
+ tar --warning=no-alone-zero-block -x -f archive
+
+suppresses the output of `A lone zero block' diagnostics, which is
+normally issued if `archive' ends with a single block of zeros.
+
+* New command line option `--level'
+
+The `--level=N' option sets the incremental dump level N. It
+is valid when used in conjunction with the -c and --listed-incremental
+options. So far the only meaningful value for N is 0. The
+`--level=0' option forces creating the level 0 dump, by truncating
+the snapshot file if it exists.
+
+* Files removed during incremental dumps
+
+If a file or directory is removed while incremental dump is
+in progress, tar exact actions depend on whether this file
+was explicitly listed in the command line, or was gathered
+during file system scan.
+
+If the file was explicitly listed in the command line, tar
+issues error message and exits with the code 2, meaning
+fatal error.
+
+Otherwise, if the file was gathered during the file system
+scan, tar issues a warning, saying "File removed before we read it",
+and sets the exit code to 1, which means "some files differ".
+If the --warning=no-file-removed option is given, no warning
+is issued and the exit code remains 0.
+
+* Bugfixes
+** Fix handling of hard link targets by -c --transform.
+** Fix hard links recognition with -c --remove-files.
+** Fix restoring files from backup (debian bug #508199).
+** Correctly restore modes and permissions on existing directories.
+
+\f
+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:
+
+ 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:
+
+ 1. The option --xz or -J is used.
+ 2. The xz binary is set as compressor using --use-compress-program option.
+ 3. The file is recognized as xz compressed stream data.
+
+* Short option -J reassigned as a short equivalent of --xz
+
+* New option -I
+
+The -I option is assigned as a short equivalent for
+--use-compress-program.
+
+* The --no-recursive option works in incremental mode.
+
+\f
+version 1.21 - Sergey Poznyakoff, 2008-12-27
* New short option -J
Cancels the effect of previous --auto-compress (-a) option.
+* New option --no-null
+
+Cancels the effect of previous --null option.
+
* Compressed format recognition
If tar is unable to determine archive compression format, it falls
Using --exclude-vcs handles also files used internally by Bazaar,
Mercurial and Darcs.
+* Transformation scope flags
+
+Name transformation expressions understand additional flags that
+control type of archive members affected by them. The flags are:
+
+ - r
+ Apply transformation to regular archive members.
+
+ - s
+ Apply transformation to symbolic link targets.
+
+ - h
+ Apply transformation to hard link targets.
+
+Corresponding upper-case letters negate the meaning, so that
+`H' means ``do not apply transformation to hard link targets.''
+
+The scope flags are listed in the third part of an `s' expression,
+e.g.:
+
+ tar --transform 's|^|/usr/local/|S'
+
+Default is `rsh', which means that transformations are applied to
+both regular archive members and to the targets of symbolic and hard
+links. If several transform expressions are used, the default flags
+can be changed using `flags=' statement before the expressions, e.g.:
+
+ tar --transform 'flags=S;s|^|/usr/local/|S'
+
+* Bugfixes
+
+** The --null option disabled handling of tar options in list files. This
+is fixed.
+** Fixed record size autodetection. If detected record size differs from
+the expected value (either default, or set on the command line), tar
+always prints a warning if verbosity level is set to 1 or greater,
+i.e. if either -t or -v option is given.
+
\f
version 1.20 - Sergey Poznyakoff, 2008-04-14
projects / chaz / tar / blobdiff