Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: tar under Interactive unix
Message-ID: <4173@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 10 Oct 90 03:53:27 GMT
References: <3494@skye.ed.ac.uk> <1990Oct9.002629.16247@wolves.uucp>
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 17

>Whatever the ISC supplied "tar" does is whatever it does.  By
>definition, tar is an imported command to System V from the BSD
>universe.

Bzzt!  Sorry, wrong answer, next contestant please.  S5 source
distributions from AT&T include source to "tar"; it's not "by
definition" an import!

The 3B2 S5R3 "tar" source indicates that the only places where the "v"
flag causes "tar" to print something to the standard output, rather than
the standard error, is when used with the "t" flag (as you'd expect, the
table of contents goes to the standard output) or when used with the "w"
flag (the query for user confirmation is sent to the standard output).

The BSD "tar" source indicates that the "v" flag will write to the
standard output *unless an archive is being written*, in which case it's
written to the standard error.