Helmut Waitzmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I guess, that tar removes a file which is to be replaced by an archive > member before extracting, right?
Right. > So, what's the purpose of the '--unlink-first' option? What does > "unconditionally" mean in this context? The default operation is: 1. Try to create file name to be extracted. 2. If open fails because the file exists - remove the file. 3. Create the new file. The operation with --unlink-first is: 1. Unlink the file first. 2. Create the new file. So, two steps, instead of three. Thus, --unlink-first can speed up extracting of large archives. Regards, Sergey _______________________________________________ Bug-tar mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-tar
