Debian bug report logs - #817
tar -T /dev/null extracts whole archive !

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Date: Fri, 21 Apr 95 21:05 BST
From: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson)
To: Debian bugs submission address <debian-bugs@pixar.com>
Subject: tar -T /dev/null extracts whole archive !
Precedence: air-mail

Package: tar
Version: 1.11.5-2

chiark:~/junk> tar -vvtf t
drwxrwsr-x ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/
-rw-rw-r-- ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/a
-rw-rw-r-- ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/b
chiark:~/junk> rm -r d
chiark:~/junk> tar --null -T /dev/null -f t -vvx
drwxrwsr-x ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/
-rw-rw-r-- ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/a
-rw-rw-r-- ian/ian           0 Apr 21 20:38 1995 d/b
chiark:~/junk> ll d
total 5
drwxrwsr-x   2 ian      ian          1024 Apr 21 20:38 ./
drwxrwsr-x  17 ian      ian          4096 Apr 21 21:03 ../
-rw-rw-r--   1 ian      ian             0 Apr 21 20:38 a
-rw-rw-r--   1 ian      ian             0 Apr 21 20:38 b
chiark:~/junk> 

>From tar --help (the only documentation available):
  -T, --files-from=NAME      get names to extract or create from file NAME
      --null                 -T reads null-terminated names, disable -C

It seems to me that this should instead do nothing.

Now I shall have to use a temporary file rather than a pipe, as
attempting to take special measures to kill the `tar' if I discover I
don't have anything for it to do would be prone to failure.

Yuk.

Ian.