[Bug-tar] What version am I running?

[Larry Baker]

Please modify tar so that tar -V or tar -v or tar --help prints out 
tar's version number.  Right now, I'm trying to diagnose a bug in the 
tar that came with SuSE Linux 9.1 (tar-1.13.25-298).  It hangs while 
--compare'ing a 5 GB file.  I'm really guessing that it is tar V1.13, 
because tar won't tell me.  I just downloaded tar V1.15.1 and built it 
to see if it has the same bug.  (V1.15.1 works!  This bug is gone.)  I 
found that this new tar still won't tell me what version it is.  
Wouldn't it make your life easier when diagnosing problems if you could 
first tell people: "Make sure you're running the latest version of tar, 
V1.15.1, by typing tar -V"?

Thanks,

Larry Baker
US Geological Survey
650-329-5608
address@hidden