Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!malgudi!caen!spool.mu.edu!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!crash!nkraft
From: nkraft@crash.cts.com (Norman Kraft)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent
Subject: Re: Trouble with untarring (was: Re: cnews/wnews/rn)
Message-ID: <1991Jun25.220805.118@crash.cts.com>
Date: 25 Jun 91 22:08:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: crash.1991Jun25.220805.118
References: <1991Jun23.020348.20525@skypod.guild.org> <1991Jun24.235132.22278@netcom.COM>
Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA
Lines: 32

>In article <1991Jun23.020348.20525@skypod.guild.org> marc@skypod.guild.org (Marc Fournier) writes:
>>
>>	We just got ahold of Coherent 3.2 from MWC.  We got
>>a feed working perfectly for mail, but I want to extend it to
>>news also.  I logged onto piggy.ucsb.edu and tried to transfer
>>cnews.tar.Z and wnews.tar.Z but as soon as I got it onto my
>>computer, and uncompressed it and tried to untar it, it screwed
>>up.
>
>I've had the exact same problems with all kinds of tar files, in version 3.1
>of coherent.  It created all directories instead of files, and if you "cd" to

I discovered the same, and the answer is to use ustar, not tar. The MWC tar
has problems with file tarred by non MWC software and generally creates
these bizarre results. You can duplicate this yourself, as I have, by
ustar-ing a file, then trying to 'tar xvf' it.

I eventually got so tired of this that I linked tar to ustar and tossed
the original. Also, if the aforementioned files weren't non-MWC tarred
to begin with, but are merely corrupted, ustar handles this pretty well,
while the MWC tar creates nightmarish situations.

At least all this is true with my 3.1 system. 

BTW, where the heck is the 3.2 upgrade. MWC told me last week that they
were shipping 3.2 in full install packages but that the upgrade would
not be ready for at least a month. A month? What could they be doing that
would take another month? And is there an upgrade price for those of us
willing to back up our important files and reinstall from scratch? No,
but we're welcome to purchase 3.2 install disks for the regular price...

Oh, well.