Re: [Bug-tar] Short option name for --use-compress-program

[Sergey Poznyakoff]

Helmut Waitzmann <address@hidden> ha escrit:

> I can't see any problem with the option "--use-compress-program".

The problem with this options is that it is ... long. Even its minimum
abbreviation is 5 characters long. Now, during the last year, I got
three requests for adding support of new compression programs to tar,
and each of them asked for a new short option! Clearly, I was not able
to satisfy that (except in one case, when I gave up and assigned -J for
lzma compression). Of course, each of them got a long option. In my
opinion and in the opinion of Antonio, having a convenient short option
for that purpose will solve the problem once and for all. Then, if a `xyz'
compressor arrives, it will suffice to add a corresponding entry to the
table of compressors and not bother about assigning any new long option for
it. Instead, one will simply use -I xyz, or whatever another short
letter from the 6 available ones, if there is strong opposition against
-I.

> In my opinion short option names should be only used for options that are
> compatible with other vendors' tar programs.

I understand your concern about compatibility. However, the -I option
seems to be incompatible in itself: the BSD tar uses it as a synonim for
-T, in star it means `do interactive creation/extraction/renaming', etc.

Regards,
Sergey