>>> [tar/cpio "writes individual files to tape"]

>> I have no clue what you're talking about here, at least with respect
>> to tar.  A tar tape is a stream of 512-byte blocks, reblocked
>> depending on the blocking factor, typically reblocked to 10K blocks.
>> This is true regardless of where file boundaries fall.

> EOF markers being written to the tape, the lack of indexing and the
> resulting "awkwardness" of its use.

One EOF marker is written per _tape_ file, which means one per tar
archive.  Not one per archived file...unless you are really bizarre and
put each file in its own tar archive on the tape, which would be
difficult to do, pointless, and (as you point out) wasteful.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
		     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B