Updated

NEWS

@@ -14,6 +14,18 @@ version 1.13.26
 
 * Bug fixes.
 
+* The semantics of -o option is changed. When extracting, it
+does the same as --no-same-owner GNU tar option. This is compatible
+with UNIX98 tar. Otherwise, its effect is the same as that of
+--old-archive option. This latter is deprecated and will be removed
+in future.
+
+* New option --check-links prints a message if not all links are dumped
+for a file being archived. This corresponds to the UNIX98 -l option.
+The current semantics of the -l option is retained for compatibility
+with previous releases, however such usage is strongly deprecated as
+the option will change to its UNIX98 semantics in the future releases.
+
 version 1.13.25 - Paul Eggert, 2001-09-26
 
 * Bug fixes.

TODO

@@ -11,29 +11,15 @@ Suggestions for improving GNU tar.
   This would unify paxutils with tar.
 
 * Remove command-line incompatibilities between GNU tar and UNIX tar
-  as specified by UNIX98.  The main problems are:
+  as specified by UNIX98.  The main problem is:
 
      l   GNU tar doesn't cross filesystem boundaries.
 	 UNIX98 tar warns if all links cannot be resolved.
-	   (GNU tar has no similar option.)
+	   (GNU tar --check-links option)
 
-     o   GNU tar says output old format.
-	 UNIX98 tar says don't chown files after extracting
-	   (GNU tar uses "--no-same-owner" for this).
-
-  Many people rely on GNU tar's "l" and "o" so we can't abruptly change
-  GNU tar to be compatible with UNIX98 tar.
-
-  However, "o" is relatively easy: we can extend GNU tar so that "o" is
-  a synonym for --no-same-owner when extracting, keeping "o"'s current
-  semantics when creating.  This is a bit of a hack, but it shouldn't
-  break things.
-
-  "l" will be harder, since it's a clear incompatibility.  Perhaps we
-  could announce a phase-in period where "l" changes in semantics.
-  However, the first step should be to support the UNIX98 semantics,
-  using a long option, without changing the meaning of "l" for now.  That
-  will give people a migration strategy.
+  Perhaps we could announce a phase-in period where "l" changes in semantics.
+  In the meanwhile we could make the "l" semantics to be determined by the
+  value of POSIXLY_CORRECT variable.
 
 * Interoperate better with Joerg Schilling's star implementation.
 

doc/tar.texi

@@ -145,6 +145,8 @@
 @set xref-checkpoint @xref{verbose}
 @set pxref-checkpoint @pxref{verbose}
 
+@set op-check-links @kbd{--check-links}
+
 @set op-compare @kbd{--compare} (@kbd{--diff}, @kbd{-d})
 @set ref-compare @ref{compare}
 @set xref-compare @xref{compare}
@@ -2566,6 +2568,13 @@ reads through the archive.  Its intended for when you want a visual
 indication that @command{tar} is still running, but don't want to see
 @samp{--verbose} output.  @FIXME-xref{}
 
+@item --check-links
+
+If this option was given, @command{tar} will check the number of links
+dumped for each processed file. If this number does not match the
+total number of hard links for the file, a warning message will be
+output.
+
 @item --compress
 @itemx --uncompress
 @itemx -Z