tar -r on a diskfile/tar arg too long

[Bill Irwin]

In article <1339 at ziggy.EDU< ssi at ziggy.EDU (Ssi) writes:
<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

I have always used "tar cvf TARFILE `cat long_list`" to do this.

There is also the -F option to specify the file:

tar cvfF TARFILE long_list

Using one of these methods should eliminate your error message.
-- 
Bill Irwin - TWG The Westrheim Group - Vancouver, BC, Canada
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