Bug#233294: installation report - tar: Unrecognised file type

[Matt Kraai <kraai@ftbfs.org>]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2004 at 08:04:49AM +0100, Sven Luther wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 10:46:53AM -0800, Matt Kraai wrote:
> > BusyBox tar cannot handle archives built with the latest version
> > of tar.  In particular, /usr/lib/debootstrap/devices.tar.gz and
> > the following packages installed by debootstrap:
> > 
> >  debconf
> >  debconf-i18n
> >  gcc-3.3-base
> >  libnewt0.51
> >  libstdc++5
> >  libgcc1
> >  perl-base
> >  tar
> >  whiptail
> >  apt
> >  apt-utils
> >  base-config
> >  aptitude
> >  bsdmainutils
> >  console-data
> >  zlib1g
> >  wget
> >  lilo
> >  iptables
> 
> It seems to me that the latest tar fixes this issue : 
> 
>  Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:03:20 -0700
>  tar (1.13.92-5) unstable; urgency=low
>  .
>    * patch from Paul Eggert to revert bogus behavior where POSIXLY_CORRECT
>      set in the environment forced 'pax' format archives, closes: #230872

The changelog is misleading.  BusyBox tar cannot handle archives
produced by tar 1.13.92-5.

> So, the problem would either be to : 
> 
>   a) fill RC bug against all those above mentioned packages so they are
>   rebuilt with this new tar.
> 
>   b) fix busybox tar so they can handle the broken archives. More work,
>   but more foolproof in the future.
> 
> Unless i miss something, that is.

Actually, all (b) requires is enabling
CONFIG_FEATURE_TAR_OLDGNU_COMPATABILITY.  See bug 233627.

-- 
Matt Kraai            kraai@ftbfs.org            http://ftbfs.org/