GNU-tar vs dump(1)

[Leslie Mikesell]

In article <5176 at lynx.UUCP> m5 at lynx.UUCP (Mike McNally) writes:

>Does GNU tar have a mechanism for creating an artificial hierarchy on the
>tape?  In our tar, we added a switch like -C that specifies a prefix for
>each following file name.  This is very convenient (not for backup; for
>file transfer).
>
It has the reverse: there is a command to change directories that you
can intersperse with the directory names.  This makes it possible to
make it look like files from distant directories have the same parent.
To create an artificial hierarchy on a tape, the "prefix" directories
would have to exist, though not necessarily in the locations apparent
on the tape.  Leading '/'s are stripped (unconditionally) on both
saves and restores.  I'd prefer an option, perhaps with the ability
to specify how many leading directory names to strip.

Les Mikesell