tar -r on a diskfile/tar arg too long

[Ssi]

Does anyone know any draw backs/problems with using the -r option of
tar(1) on disk files, as in:

cat /dev/null > TARFILE
tar -cvf TARFILE long_list       <<-- table of contents as first file
for i in `cat long_list`
do
tar -rvf TARFILE $i             <<-- append each file to TARFILE
done
tar -cvf /dev/rmt0 TARFILE      <<-- put the whole thing to tape 
rm TARFILE


note:

tar -cvf /dev/rmt0 `cat long_list` 

Would give tar argument too long error.



                     Greg Ripp (813)628-6100 x5123
                     greg at system1.usfvax2.edu
                     ...!uunet!ateng!usfvax2!system1!greg