Re: [Bug-tar] make your tar archive even more anonymous

[Denis Excoffier]

On Fri, Jul 06, 2012 at 12:21:24PM +0200, Joerg Schilling wrote:
>> Denis Excoffier <address@hidden> wrote:
>> 
>> >
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > When tar (e.g. tar-1.26) creates an archive of a directory, the
>> > ordering of files (as shown by "ls -f") is preserved in the archive.
>> >
>> > I would like an option to make this ordering constant (e.g. alphanumeric),
>> > in order that two directories that compare equal (with "diff -r") would
>> > produce the same archive (provided of course that appropriate --mtime,
>> > --owner, --group and --mode options are also set to the same values).
>> 
>> Why exactly do you like to have this?

When i deliver software to my "customers", i need to deliver only what
is "contractual", ie file names and file contents. Therefore,
my tar incantation usually contains --owner, --group etc.
Also, as directory order is not contractual, i have to use some
variation of 'find|sort|tar' to get rid of it. It would be more
convenient (for me at least) that tar gives us an option to just do
this.

The fact that i used 'diff' in my original post was only for
explanation purposes. Nevertheless, 'diff' also sorts directory entries.
>> 
>> > Note. "diff -r" is not the better tool for directory comparison since
>> > symbolic links are always traversed. But you get the picture.
>> 
>> Because diff -r is not useful for tree comparing in general, star supports a 
>> user tailorable -diff option.
>> 
>> Did you check "star -diff -v diffopts=...."?
>> 
I'm afraid not. In fact, i have applied a patch that introduces a -K
(--no-dereference) option in order not to traverse symlinks. I'm happy
with it.

Regards,

Denis Excoffier.