RE: large file support

[Craig Rasmussen]

Hi Paul, 

Thanks for the prompt reply.  I just want to be sure I understand this.
The tar header fields impose size and time restrictions on fields in
them - specifically to 12 octal digits.  So if I had a file that was
2^39 bits (~550 gb) long then I couldn't have tar archive all its data.
Is this correct?  In looking at the source it seems that the support is
there for files of sizes up to 12 octal bytes long (up to ~68 gb)?  Is
this correct? 

Sorry for being a bit slow I just want to be sure I understand it.  I am
sure you get a lot of email about tar.  Thanks very much for your help.

-craig


-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Eggert [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 9:19 PM
To: Craig Rasmussen
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: large file support

"Craig Rasmussen" <address@hidden> writes:

> I have a linux system with large file support and wanted to have tar
> handle large files.  I didn't see any option to making tar to ensure
> this.  Are there any?

It's a build-time option, and is enabled by default in
sufficiently-recent versions of 'tar'.

> I am specifically wondering about the format of the tar header
> fields such as size and time.

They don't change, and impose limits independently of the large-file
limit.
 
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