Subject: Re: ftp and tar annoyances
To: Brad Salai <bsalai@tmonline.com>
From: David Carrel <carrel@redbacknetworks.com>
List: current-users
Date: 11/13/1997 11:58:14
> There is a thing about tar that makes it slightly harder to use than it
> might otherwise be.
>
> You have to get the options in the right order,
>
> tar -zxvpf bin.tar.gz works, but
>
> tar -zxvfp bin.tar.gz doesn't
Actually, both of these work fine. The only flags that are order
dependant are ones that take arguments. `p' has no arguments so it can go
either before or after `f'. Two flags that take arguments must be ordered
relative to each other. But really... How much AI do you expect from tar?
> As for ftp, mget is a nice idea, but it asks you to confirm that you still
> want each file as it comes up. This makes it impossible to just get a
> collection of files, either by matching a pattern, or listing the files,
> without sitting there.
If you issue the command "prompt" it will toggle whether it asks you to
confirm each file.
Dave