Subject: Re: bin/2331: tar doesn't read all of stdin
To: None <netbsd-bugs@NetBSD.ORG, ghudson@mit.edu>
From: Robert Kennedy <robert@Theory.Stanford.EDU>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 04/15/1996 22:58:56
> >Synopsis:       tar doesn't read all of stdin
> >Description:
> 	tar closes stdin (or the input from the child gzip process, when
> 	using -z) without reading all of it.  Since ustar files can
> 	include extra padding at the end, it may not read all of a valid
> 	tar file.  This means the process writing its standard input can
> 	get a SIGPIPE.
>       ...
> >How-To-Repeat:
> 	dd if=file.tar bs=512 | tar tf -

It looks to me like you need to be using the 'B' switch to tar. In
other words, substitute 'tar tBf -' for your tar command. Do you still
see the problem? 'man tar' may be of some help; it describes how it
makes tar(1) continue after short reads.

Sorry if I'm way off base here. It's just that 'B' has always
addressed this sort of problem for me in the past.

	-- Robert Kennedy