Open System Services Shell and Utilities Reference Manual (G06.25+, H06.03+)

User Commands (t - u) tar(1)
FILES
/tmp/tar* Temporary file used with the required_flag value of u.
NOTES
• There is no way to ask for the nth occurrence of a file.
• Tape errors are handled ungracefully.
• The function of the required_flag value of u can be slow.
• The limit on filename length is 256 bytes. The limit on file links (hard or soft) is 100
bytes.
• There is no way to selectively follow symbolic links.
• When extracting archive files created with the required_flag value of r or u, directory
modification times might not be set correctly.
• The tar command can fail with the error message Name too long when an attempt is
made to archive a file with a filename longer than 100 characters. This message is
displayed because the USTAR format is used to create an archive. The command fails
because the USTAR format does not support filenames longer than 100 characters, in
conformance with the 1990 edition of the POSIX Standard IEEE 1003.1. A practical
workaround is to use the pax command with the -x cpio flag, because the cpio archive
format supports filenames longer than 100 characters.
EXIT VALUES
The tar command returns the following values:
0 (zero) The command completed successfully.
>0 An error occurred.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: cpio(1), pax(1).
Functions: chdir(2), umask(2).
Files: tar(4).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
This command conforms to the XPG4 Version 2 specification with extensions.
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