Bug#174308: star should become standard tar
bug1@optushome.com.au writes:
> > Not till it begins to emulate GNU tar's default behaviour.
>
> GNU tar should not be seen as the the standard, POSIX should be.
`Should be' and `is' are not the same.
> I think its wrong to judge it by popularity, consider standards and
> technical merit as well.
...
> GNU tar has been a good program for a long time, its method of storing
> long files predates the POSIX tar standard, but we shouldnt be held back
> due to nostalga.
Yeah, but nostalgia isn't the issue, not pissing off all the users is.
Users want a tar that can:
(1) Read all their old tar files, and read all the tar files they
find on the net, and
(2) Create tar files that can generally be read by others (or at least
others in the same general community, e.g., users of modern
unix/linux systems)
Since a huge number of people `in the community' use GNU tar,
interoperability with GNU tar is a pretty important requirement for any
default version of tar on debian.
[In addition, some people use special features of GNU tar like various
backup options or whatever, and if GNU tar has been the default tar for
a long time, they probably will be surprised to have it change suddenly.]
-Miles
--
`The suburb is an obsolete and contradictory form of human settlement'
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