[Bug-tar] possible tar 1.15.1 --delete bug ?

[Paul Novak]

I'm using tar 1.15.1 on a Slackware 10.2 system.
I think I may have found a bug in tar 1.15.1.  If this 
is just ignorant pilot error, I apologize in advance 
for wasting your time.    


If I create a small tar file like this:

    tar --create -P -f /tmp/TEST.tar  /dev/sg0 /dev/sg1

I can list the contents of the archive like this:

    tar -tf /tmp/TEST.tar

I can delete one of the files like this:

    tar --delete -f /tmp/TEST.tar /dev/sg0

So far, so good.

But if I create a bzip2 compressed tar file like this:

    tar --bzip2 --create -P -f /tmp/TEST.tar.bz2  /dev/sg0 /dev/sg1

I can list the contents of the archive like this

    tar -tf /tmp/TEST.tar.bz2

But I'm not able to delete a file from the archive.  This command:

    tar --delete -f /tmp/TEST.tar.bz2 /dev/sg0

gives this output:

    tar: Read 144 bytes from /tmp/TEST.tar.bz2
    tar: /dev/sg0: Not found in archive
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

I tried the same thing using gzip and also with no "-P"  
with identical results.

Perhaps "--delete" is not intended to work with compressed tar files.
If that's true, I would suggest that that "--info" information be
expanded because I couldn't find anywhere where it says that.

Hope I didn't waste your time....

Respectfully,

Paul Novak
address@hidden