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From: michael@stb.UUCP (Michael)
Newsgroups: comp.std.unix
Subject: Re: tar vs. cpio
Message-ID: <8358@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Jun-87 14:34:03 EDT
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Posted: Mon Jun 29 14:34:03 1987
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From: michael@stb.UUCP (Michael)

Actually, Tar CAN handle links properly, with the present file format.

There are two types of input to tar (generally): Regular files, which can
be seek'd to the proper place, and special files which cannot be seek'd.
They can, however, be close(); open() 'd, which does a rewind on any device
that I'm familiar with.
Presto, you've just seeked to the beginning, now you can skip as much as you
need to get to the file. 

The only thing this won't work with is pipes; the only thing I can think
of using pipes with tar are copying directories (in which case selective
retrieval isn't needed) and compressed archives (you're out of luck).
-- 
: Michael Gersten		seismo!scgvaxd!stb!michael
: Ground floor, comming up -- 1-3-7

Volume-Number: Volume 11, Number 76