Re: [Help-tar] Does GNU tar close its input pipe before seeing EOF on it?

[Ersek, Laszlo]

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010, Ersek, Laszlo wrote:

> Dear GNU tar Maintainer,
>
> if you can find the time, please read the blog post [0] and the related (not 
> too long) reddit thread [1]. The question is:
>
> Does GNU tar (and if so, under what circumstances) close its input pipe 
> before seeing EOF on it?

"davidben" has investigated the tar source and posted a followup.

http://davidben.scripts.mit.edu/blog/2010/02/28/tar-filled-pipes

Perhaps it should be examined whether this section of the tar 
documentation:

http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/gzip.html#IDX448

(ie. the two requirements on --use filters) should be extended with a 
third requirement to handle a broken pipe gracefully.

(I'm not saying the docs should be extended, nor that it should not be 
extended -- I'm merely suggesting this question be considered at all.)

Thanks,
lacos