The question was :
> The Releases Notes of 4.0E says that the well known option -h (follow
> symlinks) of tar "does not work as described in the manual page"
> (citation from memory).
>
> What can happen if I use this option on a Digital UNIX system ?
>
== It does not work as described in the reference pages. There is an old
== tar in the OSFOBSOLETE subset; I recommend that if you want to use a
== tar that does in fact follow the symlink and save the file (really
== handy if the file is in some completely different directory hierarchy
== and what you are trying to prepare is a snapshot of some sources, say,
== for export to someone else), then use the old tar (it has an older
== command format, but the old format is still documented in the new
== reference page as the obsolete command format).
==
== I suspect we inherited this broken tar behavior in the V3.0 release
== when we got the "pax" code base. We're still debugging that code. It
== was supposed to be an improvement.
==
== Tom
==
== Dr. Thomas P. Blinn + UNIX Software Group + Compaq Computer Corporation
== 110 Spit Brook Road, MS ZKO3-2/U20 Nashua, New Hampshire 03062-2698
Old tar can be found in /usr/opt/obsolete/usr/bin/tar.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claude Scarpelli | Defenestrate: to exit a window
Centre National de Séquençage - GENOSCOPE | onscreen. (Time International
2, rue Gaston Crémieux, F-91000 EVRY FRANCE | Vol 146, No. 20, Nov 13, 1995)
Received on Mon Apr 12 1999 - 12:14:06 NZST