GNU tar -- decipherment of code

[Neal Weissman]

Mr. Eggert,

i recently posted this to several gnu ng's. the answers were: examine the
tar source code; and that the format is explainmed in some header file.

i doubt that i will be able to read the source code, and i'm not sure
where i'll find this header file

would you please respond to this?


thanks.


/s/ neal weissman


greetings!

might anyone know about the code that tar uses -- how to decipher it?

for example,

folk010060000053110000020000000000050726277773400134370ustar00mathclubundergra00002550000004folk
jazz010060000053110000020000000000120726277775500134630ustar00mathclubundergra00002550000004jazz
jazz
blues010060000053110000020000000000220726277777500136220ustar00mathclubundergra00002550000004blues
blues
blues

from whence comes these strings of digits?