Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site idis.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amd!decwrl!decvax!mcnc!idis!dan From: dan@idis.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: Re: tar .vs. cpio Message-ID: <303@idis.UUCP> Date: Mon, 13-Aug-84 16:41:02 EDT Article-I.D.: idis.303 Posted: Mon Aug 13 16:41:02 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 16-Aug-84 03:22:11 EDT References: <198@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> <1108@sdcsvax.UUCP>, <718@ariel.UUCP> Organization: University of Pittsburgh Lines: 23 I believe that the history of the "tar" program reported during the "tar .vs. cpio" debate in net.unix is a bit confused. The "tar" program is from unix V7 and was intended to provide a convenient and machine independent way of sending collections of files (e.g. a software distribution) to other machines. The most immediate ancestor of "tar" is probably "ar". Before version 7 (i.e. version 6), we used ad hoc combinations of "tp", "ar", and "dd". I suspect that "tp" was originally designed to work with dectapes (small replaceable blocks) and extended to handle 9 track mag tapes (potentially large but nonreplaceable blocks) as an afterthought. I doubt that "tar" was originally intended to be used for system backup. This is why most versions of "tar" cannot handle special files or multiple volumes. The "cpio" program comes from PWB unix (which was developed at about the same time as V7 but by a different group of people). I imagine that "cpio" was developed for some of the same reasons as "tar" ("tp", "ar", and "dd" being inadequate). Dan Strick University of Pittsburgh [decvax|mcnc]!idis!dan