[KLUG Members] a question concerning tar version 1.13.19

[Bruce Smith]

Have you upgraded your kernel lately?

I noted something similar, using tar to copy one partition to another,
where it could not keep the HARD links intact.  I ended up switching
to "cp -ax" instead of tar.  That happened when I upgraded my kernel
from the stock Redhat to 2.4.7.  Tar did not change.  Very strange!!!


> I'm using the woody version of debian linux.  I have been having an
> interesting problem with my tape backups using tar version 1.13.19.  I
> can backup okay, but when I restore with an older version of tar, I
> end up with no symbolic links.  I even had a friend compile tar
> version 1.13.19 with the old libraries so it would work on my older
> root disks, and i still ended up with a lot of missing symbolic
> links.  I finally just copied tar version 1.13 from the root disk to
> /bin/tar2, and use it as the version of tar I use for the backup.
> 
> the command for backing up my system is:
> from /, tar zclpf /dev/st0 .
> 
> The restore script issues this command:
> tar zxlpf /dev/st0  . when the root file system is mounted on /mnt
> from a slackware root disk, and with the current directory being
> /mnt.  There are absolutely no problems with the older version of tar,
> but 1.13.19 apparently has a big problem.  Who do I report it to?
> I've read all documentation, and I can't seem to find what's changed
> that would cause all symbolic links to be ignored.  What the error
> messages actually state is that the link cannot be created because the
> link file doesn't exist.


--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
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