Re: tar -I incompatibility

[Peter Samuelson <peter@cadcamlab.org>]

[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