[Bug-tar] I/O error when filename has colons

[Marcel (Felix) Giannelia]

Hi,

I understand why tar is complaining -- I know that when it sees colons 
in a filename it's expecting it to be in host:/file/name format -- but 
the error message it gives when I forget to properly escape colons in 
local filenames is frightening:

$ tar -tf 2009-03-09T01\:30\:03-07\:00.rdiff-backup-increment.tar
tar: 2009-03-09T01\:30\:03-07\:00.rdiff-backup-increment.tar: Cannot 
open: Input/output error
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Of course, after a few seconds I realize my error and am relieved to 
know that that didn't come from my hard drive or filesystem, but I think 
that the error message should read "Cannot open: host 2009-03-09T01 not 
found" -- that way, no one need go through any momentary terror when 
this happens :)

Perhaps the error could even read "Cannot open: host 2009-03-09T01 not 
found (prefix with './' for a local filename with colons)"?

~Felix.