> There is a thing about tar that makes it slightly harder to use than it
> might otherwise be.
> 
> You have to get the options in the right order,
> 
> tar -zxvpf bin.tar.gz   works, but
> 
> tar -zxvfp bin.tar.gz   doesn't

Actually, both of these work fine.  The only flags that are order
dependant are ones that take arguments.  `p' has no arguments so it can go
either before or after `f'.  Two flags that take arguments must be ordered
relative to each other.  But really...  How much AI do you expect from tar?

> As for ftp, mget is a nice idea, but it asks you to confirm that you still
> want  each file as it comes up. This makes it impossible to just get a
> collection of files, either by matching a pattern, or listing the files,
> without sitting there.

If you issue the command "prompt" it will toggle whether it asks you to
confirm each file.

Dave