On Jun 26, 2006, at 12:44 PM, Ben Collver wrote:
> I am using pax to back up some files.  I get messages like:
>
> pax: Cpio header field is too small to store file /departments/ 
> marketing/mac/Christmas party/IMG_4816.JPG
>
> When I extract the archive, this file is missing.
>
> What does this error message actually mean?  How do I fix it?

pax can inherit a 100-character filename limitation from cpio or  
cpio's tar-mode emulation in some circumstances; try using GNU cpio,  
or simply use gnutar or Tim K's BSD tar directly, which will handle  
long filenames OK if you want to use a tar-archive format....

"man pax" has a discussion about this.

-- 
-Chuck