(tar.info.gz) Reading

 
 Options to Help Read Archives
 -----------------------------
 
      _(This message will disappear, once this node revised.)_
 
    Normally, `tar' will request data in full record increments from an
 archive storage device.  If the device cannot return a full record,
 `tar' will report an error.  However, some devices do not always return
 full records, or do not require the last record of an archive to be
 padded out to the next record boundary.  To keep reading until you
 obtain a full record, or to accept an incomplete record if it contains
 an end-of-archive marker, specify the `--read-full-records' (`-B')
 option in conjunction with the `--extract' (`--get', `-x') or `--list'
 (`-t') operations.   Blocking.
 
    The `--read-full-records' (`-B') option is turned on by default when
 `tar' reads an archive from standard input, or from a remote machine.
 This is because on BSD Unix systems, attempting to read a pipe returns
 however much happens to be in the pipe, even if it is less than was
 requested.  If this option were not enabled, `tar' would fail as soon
 as it read an incomplete record from the pipe.
 
    If you're not sure of the blocking factor of an archive, you can
 read the archive by specifying `--read-full-records' (`-B') and
 `--blocking-factor=512-SIZE' (`-b 512-SIZE'), using a blocking factor
 larger than what the archive uses.  This lets you avoid having to
 determine the blocking factor of an archive.   Blocking Factor.
(tar.info.gz) Reading

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