Problems with tar-1.13

[kurt.wall@timesys.com]

Typing furiously on March 05, Bill Campbell managed to emit:
> I recently disovered a problem with tar-1.13 where it has
> apparently changed option handling (one of my least favorite
> traits of free software :-).  The ``-L size'' option that has
> been working for years on tar-1.12 and earlier now fails saying
> ``Invalid tape length''.  The relevant part of the command that
> has been working for at least ten years (under other *ix) is:
> 	tar -c -L 3800000 -b 20 -f /dev/st0 ...

It works here on my tar:

$ tar --version
tar-1.13.19
$ tar -c -L 3800000 -b 20 -f /tmp/foo $HOME
tar: Remvoing leading `/' from member names
[wait wait wait]

I don't have a tape drive handy to test that feature, however. I'm
guessing you've a bad tape? I don't see anything in the release
notes indicating changed behavior for the -L option; v1.12 and v1.13
both take -L NUM, multiplying NUM by 1024 to get the tape size.

Kurt
-- 
Don't guess -- check your security regulations.