Re: tar -I incompatibility
[cas]
> on every non-linux machine i have to use, the first thing i do is
> download and compile all the GNU tools including tar. i then change
> the PATH setting to include /usr/local/bin/gnu at the start.
I used to do that, but then I got burned by 'df'. Debugging that one
involved wading through pages and pages of very poorly written vendor
ksh scripts, so I guess I learned my lesson.
(In defense of GNU fileutils, I don't think I've seen any two Unix
versions of df with compatible output either. The HP-UX 11 output is
truly, ahem, interesting.)
I've also been hit once trying to use bash as a root login shell. Some
scripts that come with proprietary software actually don't have #!
lines at the top, they just assume ksh. Oops.
Yes, for the most part you can drop GNU utilities right in. But I no
longer put them in front of the path for root or other system-oriented
accounts.
Peter
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