[COMPRESS-17] TAR format unspecified

• Type: Bug
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Fix Version/s: 1.1

Environment

I use win xp sp3, but this is probably irrelevant.

• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Sam Smith
• Created: 10/Feb/09 20:43
• Updated: 02/May/13 02:29
• Resolved: 11/Feb/10 16:16

Description

The TarArchive*putStream and Tar*putStream (e.g. TarInputStream/TarOutputStream) javadocs say nothing about which specific TAR format(s) they support.

They merely use the phrase "UNIX tar archive" which is WAY too generic of a statement.

Here are some discussions on the various TAR formats:
http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_section/Formats.html
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/cgi/web-man?command=tar&section=5

I HIGHLY URGE YOU TO SUPPORT THE POSIX.1-2001 SPECIFICATION, SINCE IT SOLVES SO MANY ISSUES (e.g. it supports unlimited path lengths and file sizes).

Corollary, once you decide which TAR formats to support, this needs to be added to the javadocs. Make sure that the javadocs discuss all limitations for whatever format(s) are supported (especially on pathlengths, file sizes, character sets, etc). Also make sure and include a hyperlink to a webpage that describes the format standards.

Issue Links

• is depended upon by: COMPRESS-16 unable to extract a TAR file that contains an entry which is 10 GB in size