Re: GNU tar somewhat cleverer than I thought

[Igor Peshansky <pechtcha@cs.nyu.edu>]

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008, Dave Korn wrote:

> http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/tar.html#SEC112
>
> " Note that the file 'cherry' is recorded in the archive under the
> precise name 'cherry', not 'food/cherry'. Thus, the archive will contain
> three files that all appear to have come from the same directory; if the
> archive is extracted with plain 'tar --extract', all three files will be
> written in the current directory.
>
> Contrast this with the command,
>
> $ tar -c -f jams.tar grape prune -C food red/cherry
>
> which records the third file in the archive under the name 'red/cherry'
> so that, if the archive is extracted using 'tar --extract', the third
> file will be written in a subdirectory named 'orange-colored'. "
>
>   :) That's some fairly powerful AI they must have there.

Well, it *is* GNU software...

Reminds me of a story where a Ph.D. student put the following footnote on
page 50 of his thesis: "I owe you a beer".  Then, on page 150 of his
thesis, he put another footnote: "I owe you a case of beer".  His advisor
comes to the defense and opens up with: "I read your thesis, and you owe
me a beer".

In other words, they are just checking if you're paying attention.
Apparently, you are.
	Igor
-- 
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