Hi Antonio,
You may achieve something like this with tarlz or with GNU tar:
Thank you very much for this information regarding /dev/null; it is so helpful! Now I may archive and compress my files and feel more assured about the integrity of my files, since I can reliably choose my tar format. :-)
I'm determined to find or modify a tar format suitable for tarlz. But it will take some time because I'll try to develop a consensus first with other tar developers and posix. It has been a shock to discover that pax is flawed. :-(
Yes, I was shocked to discover that, too. Indeed, it prompts me to wonder if other tar formats are flawed in the way of data integrity and extended records, as well. I feel motivated to ask the GNU Tar mailing list about the GNU tar format regarding data integrity and extended records, and if I come to the conclusion that it runs into the same problem, I will only use the ustar format for all of my tar archives. It seems sensible to already begin archiving with only the ustar format as it is, given that the GNU Tar developers seem interested in adopting the pax format over the GNU format. But it is valuable to have some certainty about the GNU format nevertheless. Knowing the details about the other formats also seems valuable.
Anyhow, I really appreciate that you are determined to find a tar format suitable for tarlz that has more advantages than the ustar format does; thank you so much for that! Yeah, developing a consensus first sounds like a really good idea.
Best regards,
Timothy