> 	If you tar up files that aren't writable by owner and then
> 	try to untar them, tar fails to unpack them.  It fails with
> 	a Permission denied message.
> 
> 	This is totally bogus.  The mode should be added to the file
> 	after it is created.

Agreed.  And my tar has no trouble :-).  (I have written a tar which
owes nothing to any other code; I offered it as a possible way to
eliminate some GPLed code from NetBSD.  I was told "we'll look at it
after 1.0 is out the door"...either (a) this really meant "don't call
us, we'll call you", (b) they'll get around to it eventually, or (c)
they've forgotten.  IMO (c) is the most likely, and in that case this
note is partly a gentle nudge.  For anyone interested, it's up for ftp
in collatz.mcrcim.mcgill.edu:/mouse/tar.{c,1,README} - I recommend
fetching .gz files if you can, to reduce traffic on the slow netlink.)

					der Mouse

			    mouse@collatz.mcrcim.mcgill.edu