VMS file attribute issue with gnutar / file utilities.

[John E. Malmberg]

VMS has files that the information on how to interpret the structure is 
stored in the file header, not the file it self.

Currently gnu tar is not recording this information, and I am trying to 
determine a portable way to record it.

The best hack that I can come up with is to mangle the name of the file 
to contain that information, and demangle it on the unpack.

This way if the tarball is unpacked on a non-VMS system and re-packed, 
the file attribute information will not be lost.

The files with those VMS attributes would normally not be usable on 
anything other than a VMS system.

And if an older tar unpacks the tarball on VMS with the mangled names, 
the recipient has the information on how to fix the file attributes 
manually.

Any comments or suggestions?

-John
address@hidden
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