Re: [Bug-tar] [patch v3] Bug / question in tar

[Tim Kientzle]

On Mar 26, 2014, at 9:07 AM, Paul Eggert <address@hidden> wrote:

> Pavel Raiskup wrote:
>> should we take the detection of /dev/null output
>> as an OK exception?
> 
> Since bytes sent to /dev/null are discarded, it seems like an allowable 
> optimization to not bother to send them if one discovers that the output is 
> /dev/null.

As long as it still reads the input files.

Whether it's a good idea or not, people do sometimes "prime"
disk caches by running tools such as tar with output to /dev/null.

Tim